 | The white dove, and Other Poems for Children |  |
26
Mosses.
Have you ever gathered mosses
In the lone and quiet woods?
Do you know their dim cool places,
In the shady solitudes?
In the lone and quiet woods?
Do you know their dim cool places,
In the shady solitudes?
Where the interlacing branches
Let no ray of sunshine fall;
Where nimble squirrels leap and run,
And noisy blue-jays call.
Let no ray of sunshine fall;
Where nimble squirrels leap and run,
And noisy blue-jays call.
Where wild flowers in the dim, soft light,
In pale sweet beauty bloom;
And you find the low Arbutus,
By its rare and fine perfume.
In pale sweet beauty bloom;
And you find the low Arbutus,
By its rare and fine perfume.
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Forgetting skirts that trail too low,
Regardless of your shoe,
Step you the long high grass among,
Though wet with early dew:
Regardless of your shoe,
Step you the long high grass among,
Though wet with early dew:
Go you abroad when April's wind,
By May's warm sun is met,
From every wild untrodden spot,
The fairy moss to get.
By May's warm sun is met,
From every wild untrodden spot,
The fairy moss to get.
That velvet kind, whose rich bright green,
On moist, cold earth is found,
Where clear, distilled spring waters
Ooze from the upper ground.
On moist, cold earth is found,
Where clear, distilled spring waters
Ooze from the upper ground.
Or seek you for the star-moss,
Or wood-moss gray and pale,
Which hangs around the lofty pines,
Its soft and mist-like veil.
Or wood-moss gray and pale,
Which hangs around the lofty pines,
Its soft and mist-like veil.
Search you in sheltered hollows,
The slender ferns among,
For that which bears its blossoms,
Like bells by fairies hung.
The slender ferns among,
For that which bears its blossoms,
Like bells by fairies hung.
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Or roam you far and wide to find,
The rough stones turning over,
That richer kind with crimson balls
One rarely can discover.
The rough stones turning over,
That richer kind with crimson balls
One rarely can discover.
There is one which like a naiad,
Lives in the running stream;
And through the waves its tiny leaves,
Like sprays of emerald seem.
Lives in the running stream;
And through the waves its tiny leaves,
Like sprays of emerald seem.
Another, with its slender roots,
Clings to the rough brown bark,
And brightens, with its vivid green,
The tree-stems tall and dark.
Clings to the rough brown bark,
And brightens, with its vivid green,
The tree-stems tall and dark.
Another overspreads the rocks,
And clothes the barren steeps;
And through the winter's frost and snow,
Its pallid beauty keeps.
And clothes the barren steeps;
And through the winter's frost and snow,
Its pallid beauty keeps.
Truly this pleasant earth is full,
Of wild and sylvan graces,
Which lend a nameless charm to all
Its wilderness waste places.
Of wild and sylvan graces,
Which lend a nameless charm to all
Its wilderness waste places.
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