Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE HUNNEWELL GARDENS, by EDWARD NOYES POMEROY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE HUNNEWELL GARDENS, by                    
First Line: The light of the azaleas has paled
Last Line: And death, god's angel, comes and shuts the scene.
Subject(s): Gardens & Gardening; Heaven; Paradise


The light of the azaleas has paled;
The circling boughs unloose their leafy band;
The magic mirror is at once unveiled;
And, lo! the cunning of a Merlin's hand.

Enchantment's spell is on the sleeping stream;
On the still sky, and the unbreathing day;
On the rapt gazer, and the pictured dream
Whose changing pageant passes not away.

The sinless birds retain their paradise;
The murmuring bees with nectar-freight are piled;
The air is sweet with many melodies;
Pain is estranged, and sorrow is beguiled.

Beyond, the halls of learning stay the gaze
Where aspiration wrestles with desire;
But here, content, the guardian genius, sways
The hearth of age, and cheers its mellowing fire.

Thrice honored hearth of him whose generous hand
On all who come bestows these treasures rare;
Long may this hand its ample stores command;
And late may Grief with these her mantle share.

From this high arbor, solitude's retreat,
Where care's consuming worry ends its pain,
And low ambitions grovel at my feet,
My vision compasses the mimic main.

Here fancy finds an Oriental sea,
With spicy breaths from "Araby the blest,"
With galleys gay and banners flying free,
And bales of commerce floating to the West.

The verdurous loveliness that charms the eye;
The water that the twilight turns to wine;
The airy argosies that voyage high;
Gold cannot gain them; dreamer, they are thine.

Stay then, and dream through the delicious day,
Till evening folds thee in its peace serene;
Dream on, till light and life dissolve away,
And death, God's angel, comes and shuts the scene.





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