He is going to tell her, when you listen.

That's a dear girl.

Now he is beginning.

He says, 'Come over the lake and listen to the song I'm singing to you, my mate, my mate, my dear, dear mate,' and the big night moths are flying; and the katydids are crying, positive and sure they are crying, a thing that's past denying.

Hear them crying?
And the ducks are cheeping, soft little murmurs while they're sleeping, sleeping.