Lapt in a dream of peace the Sabbath lay,
The sunshine playing on its placid breast;
All nature seemed to know the sacred day,
And hush its hoarse unrest.

The trees basked moveless in the sunny glow,
The birds skimmed silent through the breezeless air;
The very surge's murmur was as low
As is a whispered prayer.

So placid hung the blue sky stretched above,
So peaceful lay the bright earth spread below;
So gentle was the water's waveless move,
So faint and hushed its flow;—

That I, o'erwearied with this rude world's storms,—
By clamorous week-day tempests tossed and driven,—
Could almost deem I breathed the air that forms
The eternal calm of heaven!