 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
105
Dawn in Greece and Cumberland—
A Contrast
Come from a silent land where few birds sing,
And men unhelped fare forth to meet the day,
Beneath an English dawn fresh-waked I lay,
And heard thro' dewy air the garden ring
With joy and hope exultant for the Spring—
The blackbird piped his welcome to the May,
And the clear-fluting thrush upon the spray
Told of her love and life's sweet triumphing.
And men unhelped fare forth to meet the day,
Beneath an English dawn fresh-waked I lay,
And heard thro' dewy air the garden ring
With joy and hope exultant for the Spring—
The blackbird piped his welcome to the May,
And the clear-fluting thrush upon the spray
Told of her love and life's sweet triumphing.
I could not wonder how, by Grecian seas,
The men who plant the vine and tend the herds
Go gladly to their toil and home return,
Thrice weary, seeing no music of the birds
Sounds when with morn the heights of Parnes burn,
Or sunset gilds Athena's olive trees.
The men who plant the vine and tend the herds
Go gladly to their toil and home return,
Thrice weary, seeing no music of the birds
Sounds when with morn the heights of Parnes burn,
Or sunset gilds Athena's olive trees.
| Poems at Home and Abroad | |