THE halo round the Seraph's head, Too purified for thing of earth, Is not more beautifully bright Than that celestial zone of light, Which Nature's magic hand hath shed Around the land which gave us birth. O!—be that country beautified With woods that wave, and streams that glide, Where bounteous air and earth unfold The gales of health and crops of gold; Let flowers and fields be ever fair; Let fragrance load the languid air; Be vines in every valley there, And olives on each mountain side:— Or—let it be a wilderness Where heaven and earth oppose in gloom; Where the low sun all faintly glows O'er regions of perennial snows:— Still 'tis the country not the less Of him, who sows what ne'er may bless His labours with autumnal bloom! Yes! partial clans, in every clime, Since first commenced the march of Time, Where'er they rest—where'er they roam— All unforgot, Have still a spot Which memory loves, and heart calls—home! From where Antarctic oceans roar Round Patagonia's mountain shore; To where grim Hecla's cone aspires, With sides of snow, and throat of fires! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PRAYER FOR THIS HOUSE by LOUIS UNTERMEYER SILEX SCINTIALLANS: THEY ARE ALL GONE by HENRY VAUGHAN FALSE FRIEND by GHALIB IBN RIBAH AL-HAJJAM LONG DELAYED by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM HITOPADESA: DEDICATION by EDWIN ARNOLD MEARY WEDDED by WILLIAM BARNES HOW GREY THE WORLD WAS by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT NEW YEAR'S VERSES FOR THE CARRIER OF THE MIRROR, 1826 by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD SONGS FOR MY MOTHER: 1. HER CLOTHES by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH |