Noon
On either side the sleeping vale the mountains swelled away , Like em ` ralds in the mourning ring that circles round the world And through the flow ` r-enamel 'd plain the river went astray , Like scarf of lady silver 'd o'er around a standard furled . The turtle wooed his gentle mate , where thickest hung the boughs , While round them fell the blossoms plucked by robins ' wanton bills ; And on its wings the zephyr caught the music of his vows , To waft a strain responsive to the chorus of the hills . 'T was in a nook beside the stream where grapes in clusters fell , And twixt the trees the swaying vines were lost in leafy showers , That fauns and satyrs , tamed to rest beneath the noonday spell , Gave silent ear and witness to the meeting of the flowers . The glories of the fields were there in summer 's bright array , The virgins of the temple vast where Noon to Ev ` ning nods , To crown as queen of all the rest whose bosom should display The signet of a mission blest , the cipher of the gods . The royal Lily 's sceptred cup besought an airy lip , The Rose 's stooping coyness told the bee was at her heart , While all the other sisters round , with many a dainty dip , Sought jewels hidden in the grass , and waved its spears apart . `` We seek a queen , '' the Lily said , `` and she shall wear the crown Who to the Mission of the Blest the fairest right shall prove ; For unto her , whoe'er she be , has come in sunlight down The badge of Nature 's Royalty , from angel hands above . `` I go to deck the wreath that binds a fair , imperial brow , Whose whiteness shall not be the less that mine is purer still ; For though a band of sparkling gems is set upon it now , ` Twill be the fairer that the Church in me beholds her will . ''