Classic Poem

OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND .

What shall I call thee? My sunbeam, my star?
Nay, one is too transient, the other too far.

Shall I call thee a dew-drop, a joy a delight,
A rose-bud, a song-bird, a beautiful sprite?

Nay, love, I will call thee a rainbow that spanned
My heart and my life, in a lone, foreign land,

For tender and faithful, far-reaching and free
As the sign of God's promise, thy love was to me.

If I knew how the earth woos a bright, summer shower;
How the sunshine makes love to a tender, young flower;

If I knew the sweet speech of the odorous breeze,
When it dimples with kisses the star-lighted seas;

Knew the murmurous music, so tender and deep
Of the waters that lull the white lilies to sleep;

If I knew how the sprite in a rose-tinted shell,
Sings its loves and its losses so wildly and well;

I could tell thee, O purer and fairer than these,
How devoutly I love thee, my fair Genevese.

If I were a knight, brave as knights were of old,
I would bear thee away to some beautiful hold,

Where care never troubles, and Love counts the hours,
In perfect repose on a dial of flowers.

In this fairy-like palace, so richly arrayed
With tapestry woven of sunshine and shade —

With columns of cedar and daisy prankt floors.
High Gothic-arched windows and crystalline doors.

With towers and terraces, lofty and fair,
And gold-gleaming banners afloat on the air, —

Midst the music of waters, the singing of birds,
I would woo thee with kisses far sweeter than words,

And, trusting Our Father, as long years went by,
Hand in hand we would live, heart to heart we would.