Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/223

 SUNRISE. from a plunge in the sequestered pool, This bosky hollow holds as in a cup, And freed from lingering languors of the night, By the delicious chill of dim-lit depths, I stand awhile upon its reedy brink, And with an eager and awakened gaze Watch how the cloudless morn like some fair flower Unfolds its splendours. Autumn's lagging sun Still lingers to o'ertop the wooded slope Behind me, leaving undisturbed awhile The slumb'rous dusk of the beshadowed pool; But half the bush-grown hill that mounts beyond Is mellowed with a mantling garb of gold, And o'er its rock-strewn summit's soaring ridge Expands the sunlit azure, pale and pure. A breath of primal freshness seems to stir In the soft eddies of the morning air, As if old Earth in some awaking dream Had won again the gladness of her youth. Borne from the bush, the wood-dove's crooning note Hints of a hidden peace surpassing speech, And the gay pipe and thrill of many a bird Lends utterance to the joyance of the hour!

O, miracle of morning! ever new, As on the first sweet dawn in Paradise;