Poems (Bell)/Pictures from the Blue Hills
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PICTURES FROM THE
BLUE HILLS.O Fair Blue hills:
My heart with rapture thrills
When e'er I gaze upon thee!
May never woodman's axe
Profane thy sacred trees.
Born on thy land, the first the
[1]Weary mariner sees!
On one side the winding river.
Quite near by are Milton's Mills,
While the houses dotted in between
A beauteous landscape fills.
An old [2]schoolhouse, its ancient walls
Where many a name is seen,
Reminding how, in days gone by,
Many pupils there had been:
Here, too, stands a sweet-briar bush
In summer with roses crowned,
Its blossoms, pleasing to the eye,
Shed a sweet perfume around.
I see some verdant pastures
And farms with products rank,
A stone-arched bridge, a fountain,
And meadows green and dank.
But now the night is falling,
I see thee as in a maze,
A star in the azure sky
Grows brighter as I gaze.
I hear in the evening twilight
Sweet chimes of a distant bell.[3]
And I leave thee, O Hills! in thy grandeur,
To others thy story to tell.
My heart with rapture thrills
When e'er I gaze upon thee!
May never woodman's axe
Profane thy sacred trees.
Born on thy land, the first the
[1]Weary mariner sees!
On one side the winding river.
Quite near by are Milton's Mills,
While the houses dotted in between
A beauteous landscape fills.
An old [2]schoolhouse, its ancient walls
Where many a name is seen,
Reminding how, in days gone by,
Many pupils there had been:
Here, too, stands a sweet-briar bush
In summer with roses crowned,
Its blossoms, pleasing to the eye,
Shed a sweet perfume around.
I see some verdant pastures
And farms with products rank,
A stone-arched bridge, a fountain,
And meadows green and dank.
But now the night is falling,
I see thee as in a maze,
A star in the azure sky
Grows brighter as I gaze.
I hear in the evening twilight
Sweet chimes of a distant bell.[3]
And I leave thee, O Hills! in thy grandeur,
To others thy story to tell.