midday
Her novel , `` Paul Ferroll , '' contains a touching poem which shows how deeply she felt the privations consequent on her infirmity . `` Gaeta 's orange groves were there Half circling round the sun-kissed sea ; And all were gone and left the fair Rich garden solitude but me . `` My feeble feet refused to tread The rugged pathway to the bay ; Down the steep rocky way they tread And gain the boat and glide away . * * * * * `` Above me hung the golden glow Of fruit which is at one with flowers ; Below me gleamed the ocean 's flow , Like sapphires in the midday hours . `` A passing by there was of wings , Of silent , flower-like butterflies ; The sudden beetle as it springs Full of the life of southern skies . * * * * * `` It was an hour of bliss to die , But not to sleep , for ever came The warm thin air , and , passing by , Fanned sense and soul and heart to flame . '' A great love of nature and a yearning to tread its scenes breathe in every word of these lines , which possess an essentially pathetic charm of their own .