AMOR VITÆ

I love the warm bare earth and all That works and dreams thereon: I love the seasons yet to fall: I love the ages gone,

The valleys with the sheeted grain, The river's smiling might, The merry wind, the rustling rain, The vastness of the night.

I love the morning's flame, the steep Where down the vapour clings: I love the clouds that float and sleep, And every bird that sings.

I love the purple shower that pours On far-off fields at even: I love the pine-wood dusk whose floors Are like the courts of heaven.

I love the heaven's azure span, The grass beneath my feet: I love the face of every man Whose thought is swift and sweet.

I let the wrangling world go by, And like an idle breath Its echoes and its phantoms fly: I care no jot for death.

Time like a Titan bright and strong Spreads one enchanted gleam: Each hour is but a fluted song, And life a lofty dream.