Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE LEVEL LAND) Stirred by great aims, our eager souls leap high As flame, or living tree, or slender tower; But withered longings round such life must lie, Fallen like flowers of spring foredoomed to die, After a little space of sun and shower. Our trodden world is touched with poets' fire; Star-like, unknown, there hangs a world above; And we have life, can labour and aspire, And seek for God; yet sometimes I desire— Ah! how desire a level land I love! A land of sunny turf and laughing rills, A land of endless summer, sweet with dew, Girt with a range of everlasting hills, Asleep beneath a sky of white and blue. There, with a silver flash, 'mid grove and lawn, Like curving blades are thrust the narrow creeks, And ocean breezes rush at dusk and dawn With songs of freedom round the guardian peaks. In sparkling air the poplars quiver high; In every thicket sing the birds unseen; O'er sculptured walls, beneath the glowing sky, Fruits cluster, purple-ripe; and waters lie Lucid in fountains rimmed with mossy green. 1 First published in Harpers Magazine for November 1880. A clearer music whispers in the reeds Than reeds have ever learned by brooks of ours, And throughout all the year the level meads Are golden-green, and sprinkled full of flowers. As some dear child once more at home might stand, Her very self, but taller and more fair— Herself, yet changed in eyes and brow and hair— So like, unlike, the flowers in that far land, And violets grow very thickly there. And there is many a wide and busy way Which echoes with the singing of sweet words And greetings ; for the wayfarers are gay, Light, and unwearied as the darting birds. Their eyes are glad for beauty that has been, Glad for new beauty, where they feast afresh. And every face is delicate a...