Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/227



BEAUTEOUS Southland! land of yellow air,
 * That hangeth o'er thee slumbering, and doth hold

The moveless foliage of thy valleys fair
 * And wooded hills, like aureole of gold.

O thou, discovered ere the fitting time,
 * Ere Nature in completion turned thee forth!

Ere aught was finished but thy peerless clime,
 * Thy virgin breath allured the amorous North.

O land, God made thee wondrous to the eye!
 * But His sweet singers thou hast never heard;

He left thee, meaning to come by-and-bye.
 * And give rich voice to every bright-winged bird.