Part 6

Go forth, little children; the wood's insect-hum Invites ye; expand there, like buds in the sun; Leave schools and their studies for days that _will_ come, And let thy first lessons from nature be won! Teachings hath nature most sage and most sweet-- The music that swells in the tree-linnet's psalms; So taught, my young heart learned to prize that retreat Under the palms!

The odour of jasmines afloat on the breeze, That woke in the dawning the birds on each bough; The frolicsome squirrels, that scampered at case 'Mid lithe leaves and soft moss that smiled down below: Heaps piled up of mangoes, all fragrant and rich; Guavas pink-cored, such a wealth of sweet alms Presented by bright maids, whose sweet songs bewitch Under the palms!

Pale, yellow bananas, with satiny pulp That tastes like some dainty of sugar and cream; Blithe-kernelled pomegranates, just gathered to help A feast fit to serve in the bowers of a dream! Milk, foaming and snowy; rice, swelling and sweet; Iced sherbet that cools, and spiced ginger that warms: Oh, simple our banquet in that dear retreat Under the palms!

A tinkling of lutes and a toning of voices-- Of young maiden voices just fresh from the bath; A sprinkling of rosewater cool, that rejoices The scented grass screening our bower from the path; Trim baskets of melons, new gathered, beside Fair bunches of blossoms that heal all sick qualms; And books, when to reading our fancies subside, Under the palms!

Or silence at eve when the sun hath gone down, Or the sound of _one_ cithern makes melody near; While a beautiful boy, that hath ne'er known a frown, Softly murmurs a tale of the East in the ear; Of peris, that cluster round flower-stalks like fruit-- Of genii, that breathe amid blossoms and balms-- Of gazelle-eyed houris, that play on sweet lutes Under the palms!

Of roses, that nightly unfold their flower-leaves To welcome the lays of the loved nightingale-- Of spirits, that home in an Eden of Eves Where the sun never scorches, the strength never fails! So singing, so playing, Sleep steals on us all, Enclasping us gently within her soft arms;-- Let me dream that the moonbeams still over me fall Under the palms!

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Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh. Also sold by W. S. ORR, Amen Corner, London; D. N. CHAMBERS, 55 West Nile Street, Glasgow; and J. M'GLASHAN, 50 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin.--Advertisements for Monthly Parts are requested to be sent to MAXWELL & CO., 31 Nicholas Lane, Lombard Street, London, to whom all applications respecting their insertion must be made.

End of Project Gutenberg's Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 455, by Various