 | Poems |  |
48
MAY ALONG THE CUMBERLAND.
Embodiment of all the beautiful
That crowns the year, O May! is come with thee.
For miles and miles along the rugged hills,
Where in and out the Cumberland must wind,
And spring her first response of green doth find,
A rapt'rous beauty all the valley fills.
The yellow sun with summer at his heels,
Betokeneth the time about to be,
Siestas, days and nights alive with wings,
The stirring of a million living things.
That crowns the year, O May! is come with thee.
For miles and miles along the rugged hills,
Where in and out the Cumberland must wind,
And spring her first response of green doth find,
A rapt'rous beauty all the valley fills.
The yellow sun with summer at his heels,
Betokeneth the time about to be,
Siestas, days and nights alive with wings,
The stirring of a million living things.
The month is full of roses, perfumed air,
And crooning bees upon the clover's breast,
The morning woodlands ring with music sweet,
The Zephyrs whisper to the corn,
And echo back the hills the dinner horn,
But all in tune and harmony complete.
In blissful self-abandonment awhile,
Here on thy lap, sweet May, O! let me rest,
And dream and dream, till lulled by sight and sound
In unison to all the earth around.
And crooning bees upon the clover's breast,
The morning woodlands ring with music sweet,
The Zephyrs whisper to the corn,
And echo back the hills the dinner horn,
But all in tune and harmony complete.
In blissful self-abandonment awhile,
Here on thy lap, sweet May, O! let me rest,
And dream and dream, till lulled by sight and sound
In unison to all the earth around.
May, 1891, Nashville, Tenn.
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