[Editor: This poem by Mary Eliza Fullerton was published in Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics (1908).]
Echo.
Men deem her irresponsible as shy,
Crying her repetitions in the still
And secret spots of mountain and of hill;
Shouting along the rim of earth and sky;
And fleeing, wild-eyed, ere the murmurs die,
Possessed of no desire, or wit, or skill;
Servant of every sound’s tyrannic will,
Jehovah’s thunder or the human cry.
But there are sounds her elfin lips refuse
To say again, as all who listen know, —
The words that cowards and that traitors use
In boast of vicious deeds; these fall and go, —
Foul shapes of sound — to permanent eclipse,
Unbreathed by her repudiating lips.
Source:
Mary E. Fullerton, Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics, Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian, 1908, p. 9
Editor’s notes:
elfin = elf-like; physically small, charming, and delicate, with a merry or mischievous countenance (may also refer to an elf; or, of or relating to elves)
ere = (archaic) before (from the Middle English “er”, itself from the Old English “aer”, meaning early or soon)
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