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NEAR AND FAR
THE air is full of perfume and the promise of the spring,
From wintry mould the dainty blossoms come;
There's not a bird in all the boughs but's eager now to sing,
And from afar a ship is sailing home!
The cherry-blooms, all lightly blown about the verdant sward,
With silver fleck the dandelion's gold;
The jasmine and arbutus breathe the fragrance they have stored;
The crumpled ferns, like faery tents, unfold.
And low the rills are laughing, and the rivers in the sun
Are gliding on, impatient for the sea;
The wintry days are past and gone, the summer is begun,
And love from far is sailing home to me!
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