The Window or the Song of the Wrens

The lights and shadows fly.
Yonder it brightens and darkens
down on the plain
A jewel, a jewel dear to lovers eye.
Oh is it the brook, or a pool,
or her window pane,
When the winds are up in the morning?

Clouds that are rising above,
O winds and lights and shadows
that cannot be still,
All running on one way to
the home of my love,
All running on,
And I stand in the slope of the hill
And the winds are up in the morning!

Follow, I follow the chase.
And my thoughts are as quick, are as quick running on, running on.
O Lights, are you flying over her sweet little face?
And my heart is there before you are come and gone,
And my heart is there before you are come and gone,
When the winds are up in the morning.

Follow them down the slope,
And I follow them down to the window pane of my dear.
Oh it brightens and darkens and brightens like my hope,
It darkens and brightens and darkens like my fear,
When the winds are up in the morning!
When the winds are up in the morning!

Two little hands that meet,
Claspt on her seal, my sweet!
Must I take you and break you,
Two little hands that meet?

I must take you,
And break you,
And loving hands must part;

Take, take;
Break, break;

Break, you may break my heart!

Faint heart never won,
Break, break and all's done.

Winds are loud and you are dumb:
Take my love, for love will come,
Love will come but once a life,
Love will come but once a life.

Winds are loud and winds will pass!
Spring is here with leaf and grass:
Take my love and be my wife,
Take my love and be my wife!

After loves of maids and men
Are but dainties drest again.
Love me now, you'll love me then.
Love can love but once a life,
Love can love but once a life.

Sun comes, moon comes,
Time slips away.
Sun sets, moon sets,
Love, fix a day!
A year hence, a year hence.
We shall both be gray.
A month hence, a month hence.
Far, far away!

A week hence, a week hence.
Ah! the long delay!
Wait a little, wait a little,
You shall fix a day.
Tomorrow love, tomorrow,
And that's an age away.

Blaze upon her window, sun,
In honour of the day!

The frost is here,
And fuel is dear,
And woods are sear,
And fires burn clear,
And frost is here,
And has bitten the heel of the going year.
	
Bite, frost, bite!
You roll up away from the light.
The blue wood louse,
And the plump dormouse,
And the bees are still'd,
And the flies are kill'd,
And you bite far far into the heart of the house,
But not into mine,
And you bite far far into the heart of the house,
But not into mine.

Bite, frost, bite!
The woods are all the searer,
The fuel is all the dearer,
The fires are all the clearer,
My spring is all the nearer,
You have bitten into the heart of the earth,
But not into mine,
You have bitten into the heart of the earth,
But not, not into mine. 

Ay! Be merry, all birds, to-day,
Be merry on earth as you never were merry before,
Be merry in heaven, O larks, and far away,
And merry for ever and ever, and one day more.
Why? For it's easy to find a rhyme.

Look, look, how he flits.
The fire-crown'd king of the wrens, from out of the pine !
Look how they tumble the blossom, the mad little tits !
' Cuck-oo ! Cuck-oo ! ' was ever a May so fine ? 
Why? For it's easy to find a rhyme.

O merry the linnet and dove,
And swallow and sparrow and throstle, and have your desire !
O merry my heart, you have gotten the wings of love,
And flit like the king of the wrens with a crown of fire.
Why ? For it's ay ay, ay ay.

The mist and the rain, the mist and the rain!
Is it ay or no?
And never a glimpse of her window pane!
And I may die, but the grass will grow.
And the grass will grow, when I am gone,
And the wet west wind - and the world will go on.

Ay is the song of the wedded spheres,
No is trouble and cloud and storm;
Ay is life for a hundred years;
No will push me down to the worm.
And when I am there and dead and gone,
The wet west wind and the world will go on,
The world will go on.

The wind and the wet, the wind and the wet!
Wet west wind, how you blow, you blow!
And never a line from my lady yet!

Is it ay or no?
Is it ay or no?
Blow then, blow, and when I am gone,
The wet west wind and the world may go on.

Light, so low upon earth, -
You send a flash to the sun.
Here is the golden close of love,
All my wooing is done. -
O the woods and the meadows,
Woods where we hid from the wet,
Stiles where we stayed to be kind,
Meadows in which we met!

Light, so low in the vale,
You flash and lighten afar;
For this is the golden morning of love,
And you are his morning star.
Flash! I am coming, I come,
By meadow and stile and wood:
O lighten into my eyes and heart,
Into my heart and my blood!

Heart are you great enough
For a love that never tires?
O heart are you great enough for love?
I have heard of thorns and briers.

Over the thorns and briers,
Over the meadows and stiles,
Over the world to the end of it
Flash for a million miles!

Over the thorns and briers,
Over the meadows and stiles,
Over the world to the end of it
Flash for a million miles!

Vine, vine and eglantine,
Clasp her window, trail and twine!
Rose, rose and clematis,
Trail and twine and clasp and kiss,
Kiss, - kiss; and make her a bower
All of flowers.
And drop me a flower.

Vine, vine and eglantine,
Cannot a flower, - a flower be mine?
Rose, rose and clematis,
Drop me a flower, a flower to kiss,
Kiss, - kiss - and out of her bower
All of flowers, - a flower, - a flower
Drop, - a flower.

Birds' love and birds' song.
Flying here and there,-
Birds' song and birds' love,
And you with gold for hair!
Birds' song and birds' love,
Passing with the weather,
Men's song and men's love
To love once and for ever.

Men's love and birds' love,
And women's love and men's!
And you my wren with crown of gold,
You my Queen of the wrens!
You the Queen of the wrens!
We'll be birds of a feather;
I'll be King of the Queen of the wrens,
And all in a nest together!