no MY DEVON YEAR 



huge leaves. They float and flutter in a medley here, 

 and lift their rims and faces in lovely fulness of life, 

 while amidst them, the opening buds expand, petal 

 upon petal, until pure gold shall be seen glimmering 

 in their hearts. Beside the water-lilies, other things 

 are also happy ; fragrant mints give out their scent 

 as one treads upon them ; the pennyroyal lies in the 

 grass; the spear-wort flames; the crowfoot's white 

 stars twinkle everywhere ashore and afloat ; the sweet 

 chamomile's daisies attend every step ; the burr-mary- 

 gold flourishes ; and the water persicaria's rosy blooms 

 arise above its narrow leaves, where they ride at 

 anchor, with trailing milfoil, in the crystal. Here 

 are burr-reeds and sedges, rushes, scarlet-veined 

 docks, and the first flowers of the flowering rush. 

 They ascend amidst sedge and reed in exquisite umbels 

 of blossom that twinkle like pink fairy lights against 

 the green. 



All of which things, and their home and the tender 

 sky above them, breathe out and embrace perfection 

 in their sort. The secret of that day was harmony 

 the rarest of human emotions, whose transport comes 

 to the heart so seldom, whose endurance is so brief. 

 As the dew of heaven on thirsty fields, such moments 

 fill and satisfy the intellect and aspiration. But they 

 cannot be commanded ; seek them, and you shall 

 never find them ; hug them to your heart when you 

 have chanced upon them, and they vanish like a 

 rainbow. 



