Poems (Argent)/In the Avenue

by Alice Emily Argent

IN THE AVENUE.

A LOVELY spot in summer heat
For tired brain and weary feet
  To wile away the hours.
Where whispers linger on the breeze,
Play hide and seek among the trees,
And multitudes of humming bees
Take their most comfortable ease
  Upon the sweet wild flowers.

The long lake through the avenue
Reflects the heavens so deeply blue,
  And throws a sudden gleam
Across the lilies as they grow
And flutter idly to and fro,
Within the water's tranquil flow,
Their petals whiter than the snow,
  More fair than earthly dream!

Within the distance graze the deer,
With antlered heads, and far and near,
  The slender fawns at play.
Oh! beauteous creatures slim and fair,
That sportive sniff the free fresh air,
Unfettered in your grassy lair,
May cruel huntsmen never dare
  To harm you any way.

A boat is drifting on the lake,
A double boat it seems to make,
  Slow sailing at its will.
Oh! what a vision of delight
Must be the dawn of morning bright,—
The moonlit radiance of the night
That bursts upon the startled sight,
  O'er valley and o'er hill.

And sweet the pleasant sense of rest
The whole scene stamps upon the breast,
  Within this shadowy place.
Away from all the city's din,
One marvels that a thought of sin
Should from the heart a conquest win,
With God and Nature close shut in
  And speaking face to face!