The Poetry Corner

Allurement.

By Margaret Steele Anderson

From yonder hedge, from yonder spray, He calls me onward and away; Broad lies the world and fair to see, The cuckoo calls, is calling me! I have not seen nor heard of Care, Who used my very bed to share, Since that first morn when, airily, The cuckoo, calling, called to me! My sweetheart's face? I have forgot; My mother? But she calls me not; From that green bank, from that dim lea, The cuckoo calls, is calling me! And I must go, I may not choose; No gain there is, nor aught to lose; And soon, ah, soon!, on some wild tree The bird sits long and waits for me!