THE INDIGO BIRD.

          WHEN I see,
High on the tip-top twig of a tree,
Something blue by the breezes stirred,
But so far up that blue is blurred,
So far up no green leaf flies

’Twixt its blue and the blue of the skies,
Then I know, ere a note be heard,
     That is naught but the Indigo bird.

Blue on the branch and blue in the sky,
And naught between but the breezes high,

And naught so blue by the breezes stirred
As the deep, deep blue of the Indigo bird.

          When I hear
A song like a bird laugh, blithe and clear,
As though of some airy jest he had heard

The last and the most delightful word; [Page 69]
A laugh as fresh in the August haze
As it was in the full-voiced April days;
Then I know that my heart is stirred
By the laugh-like song of the Indigo bird.

Joy on the branch and joy in the sky,
And naught between but the breezes high;
And naught so glad on the breezes heard
As the gay, gay note of the Indigo bird. [Page 70]