Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DAVE (SC. DAPHNIS), by JAMES LOGIE ROBERTSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DAVE (SC. DAPHNIS), by                    
First Line: With the smell of the meads in his plaiden dress
Alternate Author Name(s): Haliburton, Hugh


With the smell of the meads in his plaiden dress,
He comes from the broomy wilderness.


The dewdrop burns in his bushy hair,
His forehead shines, and is free from care .


He looks round - orb'd thro' the blue of his eyes,
With the fearless fulness of summer skies.


The red that breaks on the brown of his cheek,
Is the russet apple's ripen'd streak .


White as the milk of nuts are his teeth,
And crisp and black is his beard beneath.


What can he show to the strife of towns?
A vision of peace on the distant downs.


Green hollows and hillocks, and skies of blue,
And white sheep feeding the long day thro '.


The apples are ruddy, the nuts are ripe,
By every pool there grows a pipe.


How can he touch the world's dull'd ear?
What can he play that the world will hear?


His pipe is slender, and softly blown,
The music sinks ever in undertone.


Yet sweet to hear of an autumn night,
When the sheaves on the shorn rigs glimmer white,


It sounds in the dusk like the joy of a star,
When the lattice of heaven is left ajar,


To clasping lovers that thread the threaves
Like a shadow moving among the sheaves.






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