| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 1548. Proem |
| | | By Madison Cawein |
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| THERE is no rhyme that is half so sweet | |
| As the song of the wind in the rippling wheat; | |
| There is no metre that ’s half so fine | |
| As the lilt of the brook under rock and vine; | |
| And the loveliest lyric I ever heard | 5 |
| Was the wildwood strain of a forest bird.— | |
| If the wind and the brook and the bird would teach | |
| My heart their beautiful parts of speech, | |
| And the natural art that they say these with, | |
| My soul would sing of beauty and myth | 10 |
| In a rhyme and a metre that none before | |
| Have sung in their love, or dreamed in their lore, | |
| And the world would be richer one poet the more. | |
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