Such musky smell of maiden night! Such bridal bough, like orange tree! Such wondrous stars! Yon lily moon Seems like some long-lost afternoon! More perfect than a string of pearls We hold the full days of the year; The days troop by like flower girls, And all the days are ours here. Here youth must learn; here age may live Full tide each day the year can give. No frosted wall, no frozen hasp, Shuts Nature's book from us today; Her palm leaves lift too high to clasp; Her college walls, the milky way. The light is with us! Read and lead! The larger book, the loftier deed! |