A First Series of Hymns and Songs/Descriptive Songs/The Shepherd's Song

by William Shenstone

For works with similar titles, see The Shepherd's Song.

7. The Shepherd's Song.

My banks they are furnished with bees,
Whose murmur invites one to sleep;
My grottoes are shaded with trees.
And my hills are white over with sheep.
I seldom have met with a loss,
Such health do my fountains bestow;
My fountains all bordered with moss,
Where the hare-bell and violet grow.

Not a pine in my grove is there seen,
But with tendrils of woodbine is bound;
Not a beech's more beautiful green,
But a sweet briar entwines it around.
Not my fields in the prime of the year
More charms than my cattle unfold;
Not a brook that is limpid and clear,
But it glitters with fishes of gold.

Shenstone.

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