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BRETON AFTERNOON, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here, where the breath of the scented-gorse floats through the sun-stained air
Last Line: Ourselves such ill.


HERE, where the breath of the scented-gorse floats through
the sun-stained air,
On a steep hill-side, on a grassy ledge, I have lain hours
long and heard
Only the faint breeze pass in a whisper like a prayer,
And the river ripple by and the distant call of a bird.

On the lone hill-side, in the gold sunshine, I will hush me
and repose,
And the world fades into a dream and a spell is cast on me;
And what was all the strife about, for the myrtle or the rose,
And why have I wept for a white girl's paleness passing ivory!

Out of the tumult of angry tongues, in a land alone, apart,
In a perfumed dream-land set betwixt the bounds of life and death,
Here will I lie while the clouds fly by and delve an hole
where my heart
May sleep deep down with the gorse above and red, red earth beneath.

Sleep and be quiet for an afternoon, till the rose-white angelus
Softly steals my way from the village under the hill:
Mother of God, O Misericord, look down in pity on us,
The weak and blind who stand in our light and wreak
ourselves such ill.





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