I WHISPERED to the bobolink: <br />'Sweet singer of the field, <br />Teach me a song to reach a heart <br />In maiden armor steeled.' <br /> <br />'If there be such a song,' sang he, <br />'No bird can tell its mystery.' <br /> <br />I bent above the sweetest rose, <br />A deeper sweet to stir-- <br />'O Rose,' I begged, 'what charm will wake <br />The deep, sweet heart of her?' <br /> <br />'Alas, poor lover,' sighed the rose, <br />'The charm you seek no flower knows.' <br /> <br />I wandered by the midnight lake <br />Where heaven lay confessed <br />'Tell me,' I cried, 'what draws the stars <br />To lie upon your breast?' <br /> <br />The silence woke to soft reply <br />'When Heaven stoops--demand not why!' <br /> <br />'Alas, sweet maid, love's potent charm <br />I cannot beg or buy, <br />I cannot wrest it from the wind <br />Or steal it from the sky--' <br /> <br />Breathless, I caught her whisper low, <br />'I love you--why, I do not know!'<br /><br />Isabel Ecclestone Mackay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-whispered-to-the-bobolink/