The Echo in the Heart + 

It’s little I can tell + 

About the birds in books; + 

And yet I know them well, + 

By their music and their looks: + 

When May comes down the lane, + 

Her airy lovers throng + 

To welcome her with song, + 

And follow in her train: + 

Each minstrel weaves his part + 

In that wild-flowery strain, + 

And I know them all again + 

By their echo in my heart. + 

It’s little that I care + 

About my darling’s place + 

In books of beauty rare, + 

Or heraldries of race: + 

For when she steps in view, + 

It matters not to me + 

What her sweet type may be, + 

Of woman, old or new. + 

I can’t explain the art, + 

But I know her for my own, + 

Because her lightest tone + 

Wakes an echo in my heart. + 