The Valleys

I heard it from the valleys

I heard it ringing in the mountains

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

I heard it from the valleys

I heard him singing in the mountains

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

Robert, when I drowse to-night

Skirting lawns of sleep to chase

Shifting dreams in mazy light

Somewhere then I'll see your face

Turning back to bid me follow

Where I wag my arms and hollow

Over hedges hasting after

Crooked smile and baffling laughter

We know such dreams are true

He's come back, all mirth and glory

-Running tireless, floating, leaping

-Down your web-hung woods and valleys

-Where the glowworm stars are peeping

Like the prince in a fairy story

-Till I find you, quiet as stone

-On a hill-top all alone

-Staring outward, gravely pondering

-Jumbled leagues of hillock-wandering

Winter called him far away

-You and I have walked together

-In the starving winter weather

-We've been glad because we knew

-Time's too short and friends are few

Blossoms bring him home with May

-We've been sad because we missed

-One whose yellow head was kissed

-By the gods, who thought about him

-Till they couldn't do without him

Now he's here again

Standing in a wood that swings

To the madrigal he sings

And I'm sure, as here I stand,

That he shines through every land

That he sings in every place

Where we're thinking of his face

While we know such dreams are true