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Poems (Argent)/The Orchard of Palms

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4573257Poems — The Orchard of PalmsAlice Emily Argent

THE ORCHARD OF PALMS. "By the lake of sweet waters, under the palms of the Orchard of Palms."—"Ben-Hur."
THE garden land of Antioch,
  Beyond compare,
Is beautiful with trailing vines
    In clusters fair,

Which yield a shade to passer-by
    And grateful rest
From gleaming sun and noon-day heat
    On tired breast.

Past melon-patches, fig-tree groves
    And scented lime;
Where oranges and lemons thrive
    In that soft clime.

The cedars of sweet Lebanon
    Their boughs droop down,
The traveller can their heads discern
    O'er hill and town.

The glorious oak and sycamore,
    With myrtle, bay,
Arbutus, jessamine, perfume
    The air each day.

And through the slanting sunlight runs
    The river bright,
Crowned with a lustrous pyramid
    Of starry light.

And ships in endless motion glide
    With rarest freight,
Like white swans floating side by side
    In regal state!

Close underfoot the tender grass
    Of vivid green,
Far famed in Syria throughout
    Each varied scene.

The Syrian sky in hazy warmth,
    O'er land and sea,
Scatters a thousand purple hues
    Unceasingly.

Surpassing beautiful the fields
    And birds of song,
That warble in enchanted groves
    The whole day long,

Through sunny gardens where the spray
    Of fountains drip
Their cooling waters on the ear
    And brow and lip.

The orchard of the spreading palms
    Opens to view,
Magnificently beneath the sky
    Of Syrian blue!

The docile camels stoop to drink,
    With bended head,
In the pellucid lake that winds
    By grassy bed.

Here soars the palm with lofty crest
    And brave and bold,
So broad of branch, so wide of girth,
    And years untold.

Each branch is perfected with fronds
    Plumy and soft:
Wax-like and brilliant high they stand
    And wave aloft!

Heavy with luscious dates, they drop
    Their manna sweet,
Throwing both food and shelter round
    The traveller's feet.

What magic lingers in a palm!
    The Eastern world
Unfolds before one's gaze, as flags
    With awe unfurled!