Classic Poem

When the starlings dot the lawn,
Cheerily we rise at dawn;
Cheerily, with blameless cup,
Greet the wise world waking up; —
Ah, they little know of this, —
They of Megalopolis!

Comes the long, still morning when
Work we ply with book and pen;
Then, — the pure air in our lungs, —
Then " persuasion tips our tongues";
Then we write as would, I wis,
Men in Megalopolis!

Next (and not a stroke too soon!)
P HYLLIS spreads the meal of noon,
Simple, frugal, choicely clean,
Gastronomically mean; —
Appetite our entree is,
Far from Megalopolis!

Salad in our garden grown,
Endive, beetroot, — all our own;
Bread, — we saw it made and how;
Milk and cream, — we know the cow;
Nothing here of " Force" or " Vis"
As at Megalopolis!

After, surely, there should be,
Somewhere, seats beneath a tree,
Where we — 'twixt the curling rings —
Dream of transitory things;
Chiefly of what people miss
Drowsed in Megalopolis!

Then, before the sunlight wanes,
Comes the lounge along the lanes;
Comes the rocking shallop tied
By the reedy river-side; —
Clearer waves the light keel kiss
Than by Megalopolis!

So we speed the golden hours
In this Hermitage of ours
( Hermits we are not, believe!
Every Adam has his Eve,
Loved with a serener bliss
Than in Megalopolis): —

So — until the shadows fall:
Then Good Night say each and all
Sleep secure from smoke and din,
Quiet Conscience tucks us in;
Ah, they nothing know of this , —
They of Megalopolis!

( Thus U RBANUS to his Wife
Babbled of The Simple Life.
Then — his glances unawares
Lighting on a List of Shares —
Gulping all his breakfast down,
Bustled, by the Train, to Town .)