The Nomad's Faith 



By Robert Page Lincoln 



These are the pleasures of a faithful life, 

 And only these are lasting and sublime: 



The courage to evade the common strife, 



To watch in silence the slow ebb of Time. 



To love a flower and a sunset sky, 



And shadows that enwrap a quiet land; 



The song of birds and the soft murmuring sigh 

 Of winds that tune the leaves on every hand. 



To breathe the nectar of the pure woods air, 

 To hear the music of the silvered brook; 



To wander onward without cry or care 



Heaven on earth and God in every nook. 



To lie outstretched among the grasses cool 

 And wait the fruit to ripen and to fall; 

 To flee the rut and the work-ridden fool, 



Who hears but one and answers but one call! 



These are the pleasures of a tender lease, 

 And these alone reward in happiness, 



Who strays along the mocn-lit shores of Peace 



Hemmed in by Hope and sweet Forgetfulness. 



He then will wipe from Life's besmutted glass 

 The taint of passion and the dims of age, 



While there will by him soft and silent pass 



Some shapes of goodness every night and day. 



From Sports Afield. 



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