University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

37

THE SONG

Beautiful is the human land
Since Love returned home,
To build with subtlest art
In every boundless heart
His high imperial palace, heaven-spann'd,
Whence he may never roam.
Bountiful is our Earth,
For Love hath laid his hand
Under her head, and she,
Embraced voluptuously,
And wonder-joy'd, unto a strange and grand
And gentle life gives birth.
Heaven-like is our home:
For Love hath blessed Hope,
And given his own pinions unto Toil;
And Joy is as a splendor whose sole foil
Is younger Joy; and Genius hath full scope
To build the Eternal Dome.
And happiness is ours;
And over us the spray
Of Time breaks tunefully,
Baptizing us with glee
By God's own hand; and evermore our way
Is strown with flowers.