Under the palm-trees on India's shore
Ne'er shall I wander at morning or eve;
Hearts there have withered, but still in the core
Of mine springs the memory of feelings that give
Green thoughts in sunshine and bright hopes in gloom;
Friendship, which love's loud emotions becalms:
Oh, happy was I, in those bowers of perfume,
Under the palms!
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!
* * * * *
Printed and Published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh.
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