Orrick Johns

From “Country Rhymes”

A TINY bell the tree toad has,

I wonder if he knows

The charm it is to hear him

Ringing as he goes.

He can’t have gone the journeys

He tells me to go on,

Here in the darkness

Of the cool, cropped lawn.

He cannot know the thrill

Of the soft spring wind,

Or the wonder, when you walk,

What will come behind.

He hasn’t seen the places

I’d break my heart to win,

Nor heard the city calling

When the cold comes in.

He sings away contented,

And doesn’t leave his tree,

But he sets my blood a-going

Where his song will never be.