74 AN ISLAND GARDEN 



" The leaf buds on the vine are woolly, 



I noticed that to-day, 

 One day more bursts them open fully, 

 You know the red turns gray." 



The Echinocystus plants that have sprung in 

 thick ranks along the edge of the beds against 

 the piazza are fairly storming up the trellis, hav- 

 ing sown themselves in the autumn ; they have 

 just really begun to take firm hold, and are climb- 

 ing hand over hand, as sailors do, with their strong 

 green tendrils stretching out like arms and hands 

 to right and left, laying hold of every available 

 thing by which to cling and spring upward to the 

 very eaves. There in August they form a closely 

 woven curtain of lush, light green, overhung with 

 large, loose clusters of starry white flowers having 

 a pure, delicious fragrance like honey and the 

 wax of the comb. 



Now come the most perfect days of the year, 

 blue days, hot on the continent, but heavenly here, 

 where the cool breeze breathes round the islands 

 from the great expanse of whispering water. De- 

 lightful it is to lie here and rest and realize all 

 this beauty and rejoice in all its joy ! The dis- 

 tant coast-line is dim in soft mirage. 



tt Half lost in the liquid azure bloom of a crescent of sea, 

 The silent, sapphire-spangled, marriage-ring of the land." 



It lies so lovely, far away! At its edge the 

 water is glassy calm, the houses and large, glim- 

 mering piles of buildings along its whole length 

 show white in the hot haze ; in the offing the far- 

 off sails are half lost in this shimmering veil ; 



