The poem
How sweet and pleasant grows the way Through summer time again While Landrails call from day to day Amid the grass and grain
We hear it in the weeding time When knee deep waves the corn We hear it in the summers prime Through meadows night and morn
And now I hear it in the grass That grows as sweet again And let a minutes notice pass And now tis in the grain
Tis like a fancy everywhere A sort of living doubt We know tis something but it neer Will blab the secret out
If heard in close or meadow plots It flies if we pursue But follows if we notice not The close and meadow through
Boys know the note of many a bird In their birdnesting bounds But when the landrails noise is heard They wonder at the sounds
They look in every tuft of grass Thats in their rambles met They peep in every bush they pass And none the wiser get
And still they hear the craiking sound And still they wonder why It surely cant be under ground Nor is it in the sky
And yet tis heard in every vale An undiscovered song And makes a pleasant wonder tale For all the summer long
The shepherd whistles through his hands And starts with many a whoop His busy dog across the lands In hopes to fright it up
Tis still a minutes length or more Till dogs are off and gone Then sings and louder than before But keeps the secret on
Yet accident will often meet The nest within its way And weeders when they weed the wheat Discover where they lay
And mowers on the meadow lea Chance on their noisy guest And wonder what the bird can be That lays without a nest
In simple holes that birds will rake When dusting on the ground They drop their eggs of curious make Deep blotched and nearly round
A mystery still to men and boys Who know not where they lay And guess it but a summer noise Among the meadow hay