II. SuMMER

Prophet O tree of life, blessed tree, When shall I thy beauty attain to see ? New fledged ev’n now, new canopied with green, (Not darkening ever as these in brooding heat,) To beasts of the field a screen, A shadowy bower for weary eyes and feet : Tree by tree musing, I find not thee. See, in the rippling water the children at play, Flashing hither and thither, diamonded with spray ; Lithe and fair their limbs, their hearts light and gay— As fair as they of Niobe ;
HENRY CHARLES BEECHING 429
Divinely fair, but too divinely famed ; Not so now let it be.
Children of Adam these by birth proclaimed,
Clasping a mother’s breast, a father’s knee, By father’s father named. Ay, but see, but see,
Their mien how high, how free their spirit ! They are naked and not ashamed
Of that translucent veil, that symmetry. How they shout for glee !
It is the primal joy, and not the curse, they
inherit.
A child of Adam, a child of God can he be ? O look, look and see !
The Angels of Children H1s ear through nature’s noises, W here’er he trod, Could hear in the children’s voices The praise of God. Our task 1s done, and rewarded [f faithfully, By others now 1s guarded The mystic tree.