XI 



^i^^ rttoon 



Lazily sailing 

 clouds, and be- 

 tween them, far 

 away, the illimit- 

 able blue! And 

 how blue! how 

 cool! how far 

 away!Neverdoes 

 the sky seem 

 of so real azure, 

 so fresh and new, 

 but so myste- 

 riously distant, 

 V as upon such a 



July day as this; and never does the earth seem so 

 warm and near. I lie outstretched upon it as close 

 as I ever lay upon my mother's breast. I feel the 

 crisp moss beneath me, the creeping of the bee- 

 tle under my shoulder, the heat of the gray stone 

 against my side. I throw out my hands, push my 

 fingers into the hot soil and feel them take root. 

 Mother earth ! The clouds sail on; the bending blue 

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