Page:Poems Terry, 1861.djvu/148

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LOTOS-LAND.
Oh, land beloved! oh, land unknown!
By what blue Rhine or rapid Rhone,
Or any river man hath known,
  Shall I arrive at thee?
Or by what mighty trackless seas,
Where the unwearied northern breeze
From dumb and frozen cavern flees
  Triumphant, to be free.

Or by what desert, red and vast,
Breathing the fevered tropic blast,
Shall my too lingering steps at last
  Attain to thy sweet shore?
Oh, plains serene! Oh, rivers rolled
Like babbling dreams o'er sands of gold!
Fair birds that do your pinions fold,
  And singing, cease to soar!

Skies, where such slumbrous mists are shed!
The heart forgets it ever bled,
And sleep lies on the lonely head,
  Forgetting and forgot.