"Something Told the Wild Geese" -- a lovely autumn poem

Photo from Photos Public Domain

My mother had another favorite fall poem which I will share today.  I'm not sure where my mother first heard the poem, but I imagine it may have been in the one-room schoolhouse of her childhood.

 I had thought that this poem was in Favorite Poems Old and New, an anthology edited by Helen Ferris, which was a great favorite book in our home when I was growing up.

However, it is not there.  Our family also owned a book called One Thousand Beautiful Things, subtitled A Collection of Prose and Poetry Chosen from the World's Literature and compiled by Marjorie Barrows. That is where I located this poem, which may also be found at various online sources.   I was blessed a number of years ago to find a copy of One Thousand Beautiful Things at a book sale.  It is well worth having in your family's library if you ever come across it.

Here's the poem:

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 orchards
    Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild breast stiffened
    At remembered ice.
Something told the wild geese
   It was time to fly, --
Summer sun was on their wings,
    Winter in their cry.

That's where we are today.  The sun feels warm and summery, but we already have heard the cry of the wild geese as they get ready to migrate.  And of course we know it is not "something" that tells them to go, but it is "Someone" who has placed this knowledge within them.

A beautiful poem, don't you think?