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ATLANTIS.
23
All tropic drupes from rustling branches hung,
Sun-steeped, delicious, fair of hue and shape;
And vines far-climbing, such as greenly drape
Unsightly rocks, o'er every boulder grew;
Dark waxed the crowded clusters of the grape,
Their swelling globes earth's rarest sweetness drew,
Till warm and rich they swung, a-drip with purple dew.
Sun-steeped, delicious, fair of hue and shape;
And vines far-climbing, such as greenly drape
Unsightly rocks, o'er every boulder grew;
Dark waxed the crowded clusters of the grape,
Their swelling globes earth's rarest sweetness drew,
Till warm and rich they swung, a-drip with purple dew.
V.
Peace smoothed the velvet sward of every slope;
Earthquake nor avalanche dared the stillness shock
By swift cascades the lithe-limbed antelope,
As fleetly vaulting, leaped from rock to rock;
Each glen did some pure fountain-source unlock,
Where panther, ounce, and tawny lion drank
Beside the antlered herd and fleecy flock;
No scarlet death might stain or wave or bank,
For none his fellow vexed—no menaced weakling shrank.
Peace smoothed the velvet sward of every slope;
Earthquake nor avalanche dared the stillness shock
By swift cascades the lithe-limbed antelope,
As fleetly vaulting, leaped from rock to rock;
Each glen did some pure fountain-source unlock,
Where panther, ounce, and tawny lion drank
Beside the antlered herd and fleecy flock;
No scarlet death might stain or wave or bank,
For none his fellow vexed—no menaced weakling shrank.
