Lyric Skylark

 Lyric Skylark

                                Lyric Skylark

     Often I’ve stood on some wide upland swell

And heard a lyric skylark, higher still,

Spiral abroad its fantastic refrains

Of liquid descants as it poured pure notes

Into the whorls of my astounded ears.

     Surging aloft on pulsing wings, it trilled

With all the burbling fervour of its heart

In joyous roundelays which brightly whirled

Into my captivated consciousness.

     If I had half that small bird’s happiness,

Then I might always be enraptured; but,

Being mere mortal, I cannot aspire

To joys angelical. When I must die, I’ll be

Content to hear its soaring sky-song welcome me.