Tuesday, January 03, 2006

"Something Told The Wild Geese" by Rachel Field


Something told the wild geese
It was time to go;
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered, . . . "Snow".

Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned . . . "frost"

All the sagging orchard steamed with amber spice
But each wild breast stiffened at remember "ice".

Something told the wild geese it was time to fly.
Summer sun was on their wings
Winter in their cry!

Listen!
Click Canada Goose
Toledo Botanic Garden

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find this very funny- I needed this for my 2nd grade son's language lesson, and the school's provided copy is in a book I can't locate just now. It's a beautiful poem, thank you so much for having it up here!

Anonymous said...

this is a great poem and I sang this as a song in 6th grade and really enjoyed it thanks for having it up it brings back memories

Anonymous said...

Couple of corrections...

All the sagging orchards ...

....stiffened at remembered ice.

Anonymous said...

I remember, like the archetypal geese, finding this poem, C. 10 years old in dad's shop after having lost it years before. And on a late summer day in rural Texas most identical to the setting, I read it aloud over and over to myself, alone & cried & cried. A bird so free but hopelessly succumbing to the movements of its inmost nature & forever roaming, yearning for its happy universe without.

Anonymous said...

My class sang this in 5th grade and a friend and I were trying to remember the lyrics that we had loved so much and found this. The song is so pretty. Thanks so much!

Alison said...

Thank you for this poem - I remembered vaguely the first few lines and could not have not setled until I recalled the poem accurately.

Anonymous said...

I have been hearing this on a local radio station for quite some time now. The style of this poem sounds almost as if it belonged to Robert Frost.....thank you so much for sharing on the internet.

Anonymous said...

This is great! I used this as studying site because we had to sing this song in a concert. So it really helped me. Thank you for putting this in the internet.