Ontario Readers Third Book, The

<h2><SPAN name="Blackbird" id="Blackbird"></SPAN>THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span>Black beneath as the night,<br/></span> <span class="i1">With wings of a morning glow,<br/></span> <span>From his sooty throat three syllables float,<br/></span> <span class="i1">Ravishing, liquid, low;<br/></span> <span>And 'tis oh, for the joy of June,<br/></span> <span class="i1">And the bliss that ne'er can flee<br/></span> <span>From that exquisite call, with its sweet, sweet fall&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i1">O-ke-lee, o-ke-lee, o-ke-lee!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>Long ago as a child,<br/></span> <span class="i1">From the bough of a blossoming quince,<br/></span> <span>That melody came to thrill my frame,<br/></span> <span class="i1">And whenever I've caught it since,<br/></span> <span>The spring-soft blue of the sky<br/></span> <span class="i1">And the spring-bright bloom of the tree<br/></span> <span>Are a part of the strain&mdash;ah, hear it again!&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i1">O-ke-lee, o-ke-lee, o-ke-lee!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span>And the night is tenderly black,<br/></span> <span class="i1">The morning eagerly bright,<br/></span> <span>For that old, old spring is blossoming<br/></span> <span class="i1">In the soul and in the sight.<br/></span> <span>The red-winged blackbird brings<br/></span> <span class="i1">My lost youth back to me,<br/></span> <span>When I hear in the swale, from a gray fence rail,<br/></span> <span class="i1">O-ke-lee, o-ke-lee, o-ke-lee!<br/></span></div> </div> <p class="citation"><span class="smcap">Ethelwyn Wetherald</span></p> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />