The Meadow Lark

Listen to:

The Meadowlark (:55)

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Though the winds be dank,

   And the sky be sober,

      And the grieving Day

      In a mantle gray

   Hath let her waiting maiden robe her,—

      All the fields along

      I can hear the song

Of the meadow lark,

      As she flits and flutters,

      And laughs at the thunder when it mutters.

      O happy bird, of heart most gay

      To sing when skies are gray!

When the clouds are full,

   And the tempest master

      Lets the loud winds sweep

      From his bosom deep

   Like heralds of some dire disaster,

      Then the heart alone

      To itself makes moan;

And the songs come slow,

      While the tears fall fleeter,

      And silence than song by far seems sweeter.

      Oh, few are they along the way

      Who sing when skies are gray!