THE BASQUE GIRL AND HENRI QUATRE.
213
Would be so soothing, lulled by the low notes
The birds sing to the leaves, whose soft reply
Is murmured by the wind: the grass beneath
Is full of wild flowers, and the cypress boughs
Have twined o'er head, graceful and close as love.
The sun is shining cheerfully, though scarce
His rays may pierce through the dim shade, yet still
Some golden hues are glancing o'er the trees,
And the blue flood is gliding by, as bright
As Hope's first smile. All, lingering, stayed to gaze
Upon this Eden of the painter's art,
And looking on its loveliness, forgot
The crowded world around them!—But a spell
Stronger than the green landscape fixed the eye—
The spell of woman's beauty!—By a beech
Whose long dark shadow fell upon the stream,
