'M 



than this, days of deeper foliage, of waving 

 grain and ripening fruit, but no later day 

 will eclipse this vision of paradise which lies 

 outspread from my window; life touches 

 to-day the zenith of its earliest and freshest 

 bloom ; to-morrow the blossoms will begin 

 to sift down from the snowy branches, 

 and the great movement of summer will 

 advance again ; but for one brief day the 

 year pauses and waits, reluctant to break 

 the spell of this perfect hour, to mar by the 

 stir of a single leaf the stainless loveliness 

 of this revelation of Nature's unwasted 

 youth. 



I do not care to look through these great 

 masses of bloom ; it is enough simply to live 

 in an hour which brings such an overflow 

 of beauty from the ancient fountains ; but 

 Nature herself lures one to deeper thoughts, 

 and, through the vision which spreads like 

 a mirage over the landscape, hints at some 

 hidden loveliness at the root of this riotous 

 blossoming, some diviner vision for the eye 

 of the spirit, alone. " Look," she seems 

 to say, as 1 stand and gaze with unappeased 

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