Pebbles and Shells (Hawkes collection)/At Nature's Feet
AT NATURE'S FEET
I love to be a child at Nature's feet, And on her mossy footstool sit and dream, Awhile the wild wind and the mountain streamDelight mine ears with music wondrous sweet.I love to note the marvelous conceit With which she hides her beauty and her grace, And decks with care each lone forsaken place,And fills the sea with beauties so replete.O, Nature! fill me with thy sweet delight, And let me learn thy matchless minstrelsy, The music of the stars, the sky, the sea,The peaks, the plains,—that I may sing aright; Then will I wake the nations with a song That men shall hear and feel and ponder long.