To a Child Lyrics

The leaves talked in the twilight, dear

Hearken the tale they told

How in some far-off place and year

Before the world grew old

I was a dreaming forest tree

You were a wild, sweet bird

Who sheltered at the heart of me

Because the north wind stirred

How, when the chiding gale was still

When peace fell soft on fear

You stayed one golden hour to fill

My dream with singing, dear

To-night the self-same songs are sung

The first green forest heard

My heart and the gray world grow young

To shelter you, my bird

My heart and the gray world grow young

To shelter you, my bird