Page:Poems Prescott.djvu/18

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Oh, be ever green and growing,
No repulse thy spirit knowing!
Like the noble Banyan tree
Tenant of the soil, but free!
With thy magic seed shed wide
On laden west-wind, laden tide,
Each ripe harvest loosely cast
And borne upon each flying blast,
Daily journey everywhere
That the great heroic dare.
Wandering now to farther Greenland
And the coasts of the Unseen land;
Into chilliest regions going—
Regions of perpetual snowing;
Striking latitudes that smile
Into summer all the while,
Blown across the open sea
Of a vast humanity.

Where no other plant will flourish
Thou thy rarest blossoms nourish!
By the merest thread of bliss,
By a whisper, by a kiss,
Bid thy folded leaves expand,
Beautifying all the land.
In thy shade, that sunshine is,
Let me taste of happiness;
Oh, dear Romance, let me be
Evermore at home with thee!

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