Though Bound to Earth

Though we are bound to earth by many ties, And all along the roads whereby we came A thousand tongues to listening hearts proclaim Our kinship with the world that round us lies; Though sunlit fields and woods and arching skies, And flowers that break in shafts of living name, Constrain with beauty all our quickened frame, Breathing love's messages in sweetest guise;

Yet deeper than all rapture earth may bring Is that fine sense whereby we are aware Of something in ourselves that does not spring From life without or in its fullness share, But like a captive bird with quivering wing Strains ever to its native, purer air.