The Lesson

My cot was down by a cypress grove,

And I sat by my window the whole night long,

And heard well up from the deep dark wood

A mockingbird's passionate song.

And I thought of myself so sad and lone,

And my life's cold winter that knew no spring;

Of my mind so weary and sick and wild,

Of my heart too sad to sing.

But even as I listened the mockingbirds song.

A thought stole in to my saddened heart,

And I said, 'I can cheer some other soul

By a carol's simple art.'

For oft from the darkness of hearts and lives

Come songs the brim with joy and light,

As out of the gloom of the cypress grove

The mockingbird sings and night.

So I sand a lay for a brother's ear

In a strain to soothe his bleeding heart,

And he smiled at the sound of my voice and lyre,

Though mine was a feeble art.

But at his smile I smiled in turn,

And into my soul there came a ray:

In trying to soothe an other's woes

Mine own had passed away.