Classic Poem

( " Vieux lierre, frais gazon. " )

Brown ivy old, grass freshly green, bright flowers;
Fane, where the soul sees One it elsewhere dreams;
Gay insects murmuring music warm long hours
To the tired shepherd drowsed with summer's beams;

Winds, waves, aye blending wild sweet harmony;
Woods wherein brightest noontide pales to even;
Ye fruits that gleam from out the dusk-leaved tree;
Ye stars that gleam from out mysterious heaven;

Birds with quick joyous cries, billows soft-sighing;
Cold lizard of the hottest nook still fain;
Fields unto ocean's bounteous love replying, —
One giving silvery pearl, one golden grain;

Nature, that wak'st to life, that lull'st to death;
Leaf-cradled nests round which the air scarce creeps;
Above this mossy cradle hold your breath; —
Leave the child sleeping while its mother weeps!