I heard it from the valleys
I heard it ringing in the mountains
Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah


I heard it from the valleys
I heard him singing in the mountains

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah

Robert, when I drowse to-night

Skirting lawns of sleep to chase
Shifting dreams in mazy light
Somewhere then I'll see your face

Turning back to bid me follow
Where I wag my arms and hollow
Over hedges hasting after

Crooked smile and baffling laughter
We know such dreams are true


He's come back, all mirth and glory
-Running tireless, floating, leaping
-Down your web-hung woods and valleys

-Where the glowworm stars are peeping
Like the prince in a fairy story
-Till I find you, quiet as stone

-On a hill-top all alone
-Staring outward, gravely pondering
-Jumbled leagues of hillock-wandering

Winter called him far away
-You and I have walked together
-In the starving winter weather

-We've been glad because we knew
-Time's too short and friends are few
Blossoms bring him home with May

-We've been sad because we missed
-One whose yellow head was kissed
-By the gods, who thought about him

-Till they couldn't do without him

Now he's here again

Standing in a wood that swings
To the madrigal he sings
And I'm sure, as here I stand,

That he shines through every land
That he sings in every place
Where we're thinking of his face


While we know such dreams are true