Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/84

Rh Around the red-tiled roofs that slumber
 * Bathed in an azure light divine,

Grow olive trees, a countless number,
 * And tendrils propped that promise wine.

The mountains, stern as stern Pelides,
 * Wear crowns of flowers, and at their feet

The fair spring of the Hesperides
 * A carpet strows for Beauty meet.

The skies rain music, clear and clearer,
 * Sweet echoes from the Heavenly court!

And on the rounded hill-tops nearer
 * The gentle sheep and lambkins sport.

What long arcades of birch and hazel!
 * How soft the twilight that they cast!

And what cascades! The sunbeams dazzle,
 * And span them with a rainbow vast.

Peace on these shores herself invites us
 * To pass with her the hours away;

The very air we breathe incites us
 * To keep an endless holiday.

Ah! Who would not live here for ever,
 * From every care and passion free,

And leave the crowd its vain endeavour,
 * Its dusty road and town and sea?