Through the noonday silence, down the woods of June,
Hark, a little hunter’s voice comes running with a tune.
‘Hide and seek!
‘When I speak,
‘You must answer me:
‘Call again,
‘Merry men,
‘Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!’
Now I hear his footsteps, rustling through the grass:
Hidden in my leafy nook, shall I let him pass?
Just a low, soft whistle,–quick the hunter turns,
Leaps upon me laughing, rolls me in the ferns.
‘Hold him fast,
‘Caught at last!
‘Now you’re it, you see.
‘Hide your eye,
‘Till I cry,
‘Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!’
II
Long ago he left me, long and long ago:
Now I wander through the world and seek him high and low;
Hidden safe and happy, in some pleasant place,–
Ah, if I could hear his voice, I soon should find his face.
Far away,
Many a day,
Where can Barney be?
Answer, dear,
Don’t you hear?
Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!
Birds that in the spring-time thrilled his heart with joy,
Flowers he loved to pick for me, mind me of my boy.
Surely he is waiting till my steps come nigh;
Love may hide itself awhile, but love can never die.
Heart, be glad,
The little lad
Will call some day to thee:
‘Father dear,
‘Heaven is here,
‘Coo-ee, coo-ee, coo-ee!’