Madison Cawein - The Path by the Creek lyrics

There is a path that leads Through purple iron-weeds, By bu*ton-bush and mallow Along a creek; A path that wildflowers hallow, That wild birds seek; Roofed thick with eglantine And grape and trumpet-vine. This side, blackberries sweet Glow cobalt in the heat; That side, a creamy yellow, In summertime The pawpaws slowly mellow; And autumn's prime Strews red the Chickasaw, Persimmon brown and haw. The glittering dragon-fly, A wingéd flash, goes by; And tawny wasp and hornet Seem gleams that drone; The beetle, like a garnet, Slips from the stone; And bu*terflies float there, Spangling with gold the air. Here the brown thrashers hide, The chat and cat-bird chide; The blue kingfisher houses Above the stream, And here the heron drowses Lost in his dream; The vireo's flitting note Haunts all the wild remote. And now a cow's slow bell Tinkles along the dell; Where breeze-dropped petals winnow From blossomy limbs On waters, where the minnow, Faint-twinkling, swims; Where, in the root-arched shade, Slim prisms of light are laid. When in the tangled thorn The new-moon hangs a horn, Or, 'mid the sunset's islands, Guides a canoe, The brown owl in the silence Calls, and the dew Beads here its orbs of damp, Each one a firefly lamp. Then when the night is still Here sings the whippoorwill; And stealthy sounds of crickets, And winds that pa**, Whispering, through bramble thickets Along the gra**, Faint with far scents of hay, Seem feet of dreams astray. And where the water shines Dark through tree-twisted vines, Some water-spirit, dreaming, Braids in her hair A star's reflection; seeming A j**el there; While all the sweet night long Ripples her quiet song.... Would I could imitate, O path, thy happy state! Making my life all beauty, All bloom and beam; Knowing no other duty Than just to dream, And far from pain and woe Lead feet that come and go. Leading to calm content, O'er ways the Master went, Through lowly things and humble, To peace and love; Teaching the lives that stumble To look above, Forget the world of toil And all its sad turmoil.