Mary Austin Poems

I know very well what I'd rather be
If I didn't always have to be me!
I'd rather be an owl,
A downy feathered owl,
...

CREAM-CUPS, butter-cups,
Dandelions and sedges;
Blackbirds in the poplar row,
...

W HEN misty, misty mornings come,
When wild geese low are flying,
And down along the reedy marsh
...

WHENEVER the days are cool and clear,
The sand-hill crane goes walking
Across the field by the flashing weir,
Slowly, solemnly stalking.
...

WE have set the White Christ forward, we have bid the old gods go,
We be Christians, Christian peoples, singing psalm tunes staid and slow.
...

HEAR now a tale of the deer-star,
Tale of the days agone,
When a youth rose up for the hunting
In the bluish light of dawn --
...

FAIR is the white star of twilight,
and the sky clearer
At the day's end;
But she is fairer, and she is dearer.
...

COME not near my songs,
You who are not my lover,
Lest from that ambush
...

WHEN the catkin's on the willow
And the tassel on the birch,
The wild bees from the having rocks
Begin their honey search.
...

GO thy way in comeliness!
Strong sun across the sod doth make
Such quickening as thy countenance.
...