Indian and Other Tales

by M. L. Hope

And when its liquid notes echoed the woodland through,
The fern-tree lifted its drooping head
And was fresh as the morning dew;
So I left them in their joy—the youth and his fairy bride,
The tree with its nest of callow birds—
And I crossed the ocean tide.

In the early morn I came to a land where the orchards were white
With their wealth of apple blossoms, and bathed in the spring sunlight;
There I found a winding road with banks where the wild-flowers grew,
And through a vista of blossoming trees the sea came into view,
As it sparkled in the sun and kissed the golden shore,
Then laughed aloud in its mirth and ran back to the sea once more.

And again I wandered on, until in the twilight dim
I came where the scent of the wattle seemed the incense to Nature's hymn,
For a brooding peace lay o'er land and sea
As I sank to rest in a blue gum-tree,
And when I awoke in the dawn, the dew lay on vineyards green,

Where they nestled in valleys of red-hued loam;
And a river whose fount was a cascade clear,
Which burst from the brow of a mountain near,
Wended its way through the verdant land,
Till it reached at last the ocean strand,
Where it lost itself in the waters deep,
And only the mermaids saw it leap
With joy, as it reached the Garden of Sleep.

And still I wandered on until I came to tropical seas,
Where the odors of spices were wafted afar by every passing breeze;
And in the pearly light of the coming day
I saw the feathery bamboo groves, where the elephant loves to stray;
I heard his mighty trump, as he waked from his dream,
And the sound of women's voices as they wended their way to the stream;
A laughing, chattering throng, they passed me on their way
To bathe in the limpid waters, ere the sun held his sovereign sway.
I followed a Purple Emperor to the cinnamon gardens near,
Then chased a laughing rickshaw boy, and whispered in his ear;
What the secret was I may not tell,
But the rickshaw boy seemed to know it well.

Then I left behind me this island fair,
With its wondrous charm and fragrant air,
And ere night had fallen had crossed the sea,
And come to the land of the banyan tree,
Where nature is wrapped in mystery deep,
And the gods in the cups of the Lotus-flower sleep;
And even my spirit felt its spell,
For I scarcely breathed as the twilight fell;
And when o'er the palm-trees and temples fair
The crescent moon hung in the evening air,
And from shadowy doorways and wayside shrines near
The chant of the Koran fell on my ear;
Still more did its mystery my spirit fill,
For I felt that I only could breathe and be still.

And so on to the Isles of the West I roam,
Which the hearts of the exiles ever call home;
And I think that the primrose and hare-bells blue
Are emblems of hearts that are ever true,
And the shamrock doth also with elfin grace
Claim for itself in my heart a place;
So I whisper them each that no fairer land
Have I found in my wanderings from strand to strand;
They each have their charm and magic spell,
And loving hearts in each one doth dwell.