| Augustin S. Macdonald, comp. A Collection of Verse by California Poets. 1914. | | | | Song of the Out-of-Doors | | By Herbert Bashford |
| | | COME with me, O you world-weary, to the haunts of thrush and veery, | |
| To the cedar’s dim cathedral and the palace of the pine; | |
| Let the soul within you capture something of the wildwood rapture, | |
| Something of the epic passion of that harmony divine! | |
| Down the pathway let us follow through the hemlocks to the hollow, | 5 |
| To the woven, vine-wound thickets in the twilight vague and old, | |
| While the streamlet winding after is a trail of silver laughter, | |
| And the boughs above hint softly of the melodies they hold. | |
| Through the forest, never caring what the way our feet are faring, | |
| We shall hear the wild birds’ revel in the labyrinth of Tune, | 10 |
| And on mossy carpets tarry in His temples cool and airy, | |
| Hung with silence and the splendid, amber tapestry of noon. | |
| Leave the hard heart of the city, with its poverty of pity, | |
| Leave the folly and the fashion wearing out the faith of men, | |
| Breathe the breath of life blown over upland meadows white with clover, | 15 |
| And with childhood’s clearer vision see the face of God again! | | | | |
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