Classic Poem

A SCENT of guava-blossoms and the smell
Of bruisid grass beneath the tamarindtrees;
The hurried humming of belated bees
With pollen-laden thighs; far birds that tell
With faint, last notes of night's approaching spell,
While smoke of supper-fires the low sun sees
Creep through the roofs of palm, and on the breeze
Floats forth the message of the evening bell.
Our footsteps pause, we look toward the west,
And from my heart throbs out one fervent prayer:
O love! O silence! ever to be thus, —
A silence full of love and love its best,
Till in our evening years we two shall share
Together, side by side, life's Angelus!