Nature's Orchestra

Here's another poem unpublished in the lifetime of Clark Ashton Smith (CAS), and not available on The Eldritch Dark, so here's the text itself:


In yon sunlit meadow, hark

To the singing of the lark

And the quail in coverts near

To each other calling clear

Voice of some lone robin floats

From an oak, and hoarser note

Of the blackbirds settling nigh.

Bluejays call, as past they fly

And their strident voices fall

In a blending musical

With the sweet tones of the thrush

And the bluebird in yon bush

In the woods a brooklet sings,

And the wistful whisperings

Of the wind amid the trees,

Blend with songs of birds and bees

And the streamlet's melody,

In a perfect harmony.

This is such a cheery little nature ode that it's almost out sync with other early poems by CAS that I have been reading recently.  I suspect this one may be a very early item in CAS' poetic oeuvre, since it has a whiff of juvenilia about it.  One almost feels the very young CAS trying out his hand at the poetic form, with less of his personal voice making it through the exercise.