The Whip-Poor Will

Henry Van Dyke

Do you remember, father,—   
It seems so long ago,—
The day we fished together   
Along the Pocono?
At dusk I waited for you,   
Beside the lumber-mill,
And there I heard a hidden bird   
That chanted, “whip-poor-will,”   
Whippoorwill! whippoorwill!”   
Sad and shrill,—“whippoorwill!

[Excerpt]

This is the first stanza of the poem.