THE land is a garden of glamour, where passes Each breeze on its wandering way to the sea; And prodigal, scatters the sweets it amasses From orange groves yielding their stores tenderly, To be breathed back again to the tremulous grasses Through which Zephyr ranges;—a light lover, he! 'Tis the garden of Eden; high hedges enclose it Of lime and of cypress; a still spirit rests 'Neath the veil of the mountains (the hushed silence shows it), And he broods the sweet valley to sleep on his breast. This is a sanctuary;—every bird knows it, And knows the broad landscape was made for his nest. For hark how the hedges and bushes are ringing With madrigals! Mark how the jubilant trees Are budding with birds and a-blossom with singing; And look! from each spray a small singer of glees Is trilling and trilling his skyward song flinging;— Sure Italy's skies are not bluer than these! Here rain in swift showers soft tropical flowers Sweet somnolent scents on the tropical air; Lavish roses have reared them a riotous bower, Flaunting crimson and gold their gray gonfalons flare, And the heart of each rose and the heart of each hour Shows the last-bloomed the rarest, where each still was rare. This is the land of the poet's desire; This is the Beautiful's indwelling place; Land of the new dawn and late sunset's fire, Lo, she laughs like a child in the grim East's face! And a thousand years shall be born and expire Ere her youth shall have dimmed its immortal grace. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BIRD OF PARADISE by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES STANZAS WRITTEN IN DEJECTION, NEAR NAPLES by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRELAND: 2. FINLAY by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 62. AL-MUMIT by EDWIN ARNOLD SPANISH WINGS: SENORITA by H. BABCOCK A WOMAN'S SONNETS: 12 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE EMBARRASSING EPISODE OF LITTLE MISS MUFFET by GUY WETMORE CARRYL |