The hermit thrush

A lyrical poem evokes spring woods and a solitary thrush whose melodious song rises from birch trees and ridge-top pines, contrasting the bird's secluded life with the wider world. Vivid natural imagery—meadows, mills, rocky hills, and flowing streams—frames meditations on retreat, melancholy, and transcendent music. The narrator invites readers to seek remote highlands to hear the bird's evening and afternoon songs, presenting the melody as both intimate and skyward and celebrating nature's capacity to astonish and console.