"Drop me a feather out of the blue,
Bird flying up to the sun:"
Higher and higher the skylark flew,
But dropped he never a one.
"Only a feather I ask of thee
Fresh from the purer air:"
Upward the lark flew bold and free
To heaven, and vanished there.
Only the sound of a rapturous song
Throbbed in the tremulous light;
Only a voice could linger long
At such a wondrous height.
"Drop me a feather!" but while I cry,
Lo! like a vision fair,
The bird from the heart of the glowing sky
Sinks through the joyous air.
Downward sinking and singing alone,
But the song which was glad above
Takes ever a deeper and dearer tone,
For it trembles with earthly love.
And the feather I asked from the boundless heaven
Were a gift of little worth;
For oh what a boon by the lark is given
When he brings all heaven to earth!