This Lawn, &c.


This Lawn, a carpet all alive
With shadows flung from leaves--to strive
  In dance, amid a press
Of sunshine, an apt emblem yields
Of Worldlings revelling in the fields
  Of strenuous idleness;

Less quick the stir when tide and breeze
Encounter, and to narrow seas
  Forbid a moment's rest;
The medley less when boreal Lights
Glance to and fro, like aery Sprites
  To feats of arms addrest!

Yet, spite of all this eager strife,
This ceaseless play, the genuine life
  That serves the stedfast hours,
Is in the grass beneath, that grows
Unheeded, and the mute repose
  Of sweetly-breathing flowers.


Design, coding, and editing: Copyright © 1998 by James M. Garrett. All rights reserved.