All the trees are sleeping, all the winds are still, <br />All the flocks of fleecy clouds have wandered past the hill; <br />Through the noonday silence, down the woods of June, <br />Hark, a little hunter's voice comes running with a tune. <br />"Hide and seek! <br />"When I speak, <br />"You must answer me: <br />"Call again, <br />"Merry men, <br />"Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!" <br /> <br />Now I hear his footsteps, rustling through the grass: <br />Hidden in my leafy nook, shall I let him pass? <br />Just a low, soft whistle,--quick the hunter turns, <br />Leaps upon me laughing, rolls me in the ferns. <br />"Hold him fast, <br />"Caught at last! <br />"Now you're it, you see. <br />"Hide your eye, <br />"Till I cry, <br />"Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!" <br /> <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />Long ago he left me, long and long ago: <br />Now I wander through the world and seek him high and low; <br />Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place,-- <br />Ah, if I could hear his voice, I soon should find his face. <br />Far away, <br />Many a day, <br />Where can Barney be? <br />Answer, dear, <br />Don't you hear? <br />Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee! <br /> <br />Birds that in the spring-time thrilled his heart with joy, <br />Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy. <br />Surely he is waiting till my steps come nigh; <br />Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die. <br />Heart, be glad, <br />The little lad <br />Will call some day to thee: <br />"Father dear, <br />"Heaven is here, <br />"Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!"<br /><br />Henry Van Dyke<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/hide-and-seek-2/
