O WHAT harper could worthily harp it, Mine Edward! this wide-stretching wold (Look out @3wold@1) with its wonderful carpet Of emerald, purple, and gold! Look well at it -- also look sharp, it Is getting so cold. The purple is heather (@3erica@1); The yellow, gorse -- call'd sometimes "whin." Cruel boys on its prickles might spike a Green beetle as if on a pin. You may roll in it, if you would like a Few holes in your skin. You wouldn't? Then think of how kind you Should be to the insects who crave Your compassion -- and then, look behind you At you barley-ears! Don't they look brave As they undulate (@3undulate,@1 mind you, From @3unda, a wave@1). The noise of those sheep-bells, how faint it Sounds here -- (on account of our height)! And this hillock itself -- who could paint it, With its changes of shadow and light? Is it not -- (never, Eddy, say "ain't it") -- A marvellous sight? Then yon desolate eerie morasses, The haunts of the snipe and the hern -- (I shall question the two upper classes On @3aquatiles,@1 when we return) -- Why, I see on them absolute masses Of @3filix@1 or fern. How it interests e'en a beginner (Or @3tiro@1) like dear little Ned! Is he listening? As I am a sinner He's asleep -- he is wagging his head. Wake up! I'll go home to my dinner, And you to your bed. The boundless ineffable prairie; The splendour of mountain and lake With their hues that seem ever to vary; The mighty pine-forests which shake In the wind, and in which the unwary May tread on a snake; And this wold with its heathery garment Are themes undeniably great. But -- although there is not any harm in't -- It's perhaps little good to dilate On their charms to a dull little varmint Of seven or eight. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: AMOS SIBLEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE UNSUNG HEROES by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR PEEWEE by ALFRED FRANCIS KREYMBORG THE MAN WITH THE HOE by EDWIN MARKHAM THE WANING MOON by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY |