Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONG FOR IDLERS, by GEORGE MURRAY (1830-1910)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SONG FOR IDLERS, by                    
First Line: A nap in the woods on a soft june day
Last Line: Of a nap in a green june wood!
Subject(s): Idleness; Music & Musicians; Peace; Singing & Singers; Laziness; Sloth; Indolence


A nap in the woods on a soft June day,
What lazy joys excel?
How delightfully Nature steals away
The senses by her spell!

How soft a couch the mosses make!
No canopy so light
As ferns that gently wave and shake
Their fronds of emerald bright!

And then, for a draught of drowsiness,
Can subtlest drug compare
With the sight of clouds that lazy press
Through the sapphire of the air?

These soft white hands doth Nature lay
Over her patient's eyes,
And, lo! sink griefs, cares, pains away,
And peace, sweet peace, doth rise.

How softly now on the senses fall
What once were harshest tones;
The crow's rude cry seems a cuckoo's call,
The magpie a honey-bee drones;

And soothing is the jay's hoarse screech,
As song of nightingale;
The squirrels' chattering in the beech,
As crickets at twilight pale.

From every voice sweet music flows,
And from the music peace;
Till, the mind o'erburdened with repose,
All acts of being cease.

When Nature such arts as these employs
On one in an idle mood,
How may one e'er resist the joys
Of a nap in a green June wood!





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