Classic Poem

Thus danced those I have named and many more
Who of their consort were; all folk well taught,
Frank, and genteel they uniformly were.
When I had scanned the countenances fair
Of those who led the dance, I had the whim
To search the garden farther and explore
The place, to examine all the trees found there:
The laurels, hazels, cedars, and the pines.
Just then the dance was ended; for the most
Departed with their sweethearts to make love,
Shaded beneath the secret-keeping boughs.
Foolish were he who envied not such life
As there they led! It lusty was, God knows!
He who might have a chance to live that way
Might well deprive himself of other boons;
For there's no better paradise on earth
Than any place where lover finds a maid
Responding freely to his heart's desire.
Straightway I wandered from the scene of love,
Amusing myself alone among the trees;
When suddenly the God of Love did call
To him Sweet Looks, who bore his weapons two.
No longer idle was the golden bow.
He was required to string it, and he did
Without delay; then with the arrows five,
Shining and strong and ready to be shot,
He handed it unto the God of Love,
Who, bow in hand, pursued me distantly.
Meant he to go so far as shoot at me?
Would God might guard me from a mortal wound!
Enjoying all the orchard, fancy free,
Unheedingly I went upon my way;
But still he followed, for in no one spot
Unto the garden's end did I make pause.
The enclosure was a perfect measured square
As long as it was broad. Except some trees
That would have been too ugly for the place,
There is no fruitful one that was not there
In numbers, or at least in ones and twos.
Among the trees that I remember well
There were pomegranates, grateful to the sick,
And many fig trees, date palms, almond trees.
The nut trees were most plentiful of all,
Such as are in their seasons fully charged
With nutmegs not insipid nor yet sharp.
A man could find whatever tree he wished:
Licorice and gillyflower cloves,
A malagueta pepper tree, whose fruit
Is given the name of Grains of Paradise,
With many another most delightful spice,
Zodary, anis seed, and cinnamon,
That makes good eating when a meal is done.
With all these foreign trees familiar grew
Those that bore loads of quinces, peaches, pears,
Chestnuts and other nuts, and medlars brown,
Apples, and plums that were both white and black,
Fresh vermilion cherries, hazel nuts,
Berries of beam tree, sorbs, and many more.
With lofty laurels and high pines the place
Was stocked, with cypress and with olive trees
That are so scarce as to be notable,
And great wide-branching elms, and hazels straight,
Hornbeams, beeches, aspens, and the ash,
Maple, and oak, and spruce. Why mention more?
There were so many trees of divers sorts
That should I try to name them all I'd find
The task a tiresome one. But you should know
That all these trees were spaced as was most fit,
Each from its neighbor distant fathoms five
Or six, and yet the branches were so long
And high that for defense against the heat
They knit together at the tops and kept
The sun from shining through upon the ground
And injuring the tender, growing grass.
Roebuck and deer rambled about the lawns,
And many a squirrel climbed from tree to tree;
From out their burrows rabbits freely ran,
Of which there were not less than thirty kinds
That tourneyed on the dewy, verdant grass.
In places there were clear, refreshing springs,
Quite void of frogs and newts, and shaded cool,
From which by conduits almost numberless
Mirth had conveyed the water to small brooks
That made a soft and pleasant murmuring sound
About the streamlets and the fountain brinks,
Beside the waters bright and frolicsome,
The grass was short and thick, where one might lie
Beside his sweetheart as upon a couch;
For, from the earth made soft and moist by springs,
Luxuriant grew the turf as one might wish.
The excellence of climate there produced,
Winter and summer, great supply of flowers
Embellishing the whole environment.
Most fair the violets, and fresh and new
The periwinkles bloomed, and other flowers
Were marvelously yellow, white, and red.
Exceeding quaint appeared the grassy mead,
As if enameled in a thousand hues
Or painted with the blooms, whose odors sweet
Perfumed the air. But I'll not bore you more
With long account of this delightful place.
'Tis better now that I should make an end;
For not all the beauty I recall,
Nor all the garden's sweet delightfulness.
Well, on I went, turning first right then left,
Till I had searched out and beheld each sight —
Experienced each charm the place possessed.
The God of Love followed me everywhere,
Spying continually, like hunter skilled
Who waits the time when he his quarry finds
In the best place to take the deadly stroke.
At last I reached the fairest spot of all
Where flowed a spring beneath a spreading pine.
Not since King Pepin's time or Charlemagne's
Has such a tree been seen; so high its crown
It towered o'er all others in the place.
Nature with cunning craftsmanship had set
The fountain that was underneath the tree
Within a marble verge, and on the stone
About the border, in small letters carved:
" Here t'was that Fair Narcissus wept himself to death. "