SABINE HILLS

On Sabine hills when melt the snows,

Still level-full His river flows;

Each April now His valley fills

With cyclamen and daffodils;

And summers wither with the rose.

Swift-waning moons the cycle close:

Birth,—toil,—mirth,—death; life onward goes

Through harvest heat or winter chills

On Sabine hills.

Yet One breaks not His long repose,

Nor hither comes when Zephyr blows;

In vain the spring's first swallow trills;

Never again that Presence thrills;

One charm no circling season knows

On Sabine hills.

GEORGE MEASON WHICHER