A long forest silence first broken
By a robin in the pre-dawn.
His brave song brightens the darkness
Before sunlight can,
Giving courage to his kind.
I lie awake in my tent listening,
While the breezes still sleep,
And the day delays its gleaming heat.
Trees hold their shadows,
But stars begin to yield,
To a blue glow from the east,
Steadily crowning above the peaks.
Then morning comes
To mountains, lakes and streams.
Who, but for a song,
Would stay in dreams.
By Z. Toad
The Desert Toad 