A Lyric by Bliss Carman — Read

Oh, once I could not understand / The sob within the throat of spring, -- / The shrilling of the frogs, nor why / The birds so passionately sing.

That was before your beauty came / And stooped to teach my soul desire, / When on these mortal lips you laid / The magic and immortal fire.

I wondered why the sea should seem / So gray, so lonely, and so old; / The sigh of level-driving snows / In winter so forlornly cold.

I wondered what it was could give / The scarlet autumn pomps their pride. / And paint with colors not of earth / The glory of the mountainside.

I could not tell why youth should dream / And worship at the evening star, / And yet must go with eager feet / Where danger and where splendor are.

I could not guess why men at times, / Beholding beauty, should go mad / With joy or sorrow or despair / Or some unknown delight they had.

I wondered what they had received / From Time's inexorable hand / So full of loveliness and doom. / But now, ah, now I understand!