A SUMMER SLEEPING-ROOM.

HERE is my summer sleeping-room
    Within a grove of towering pine;
These latticed walls, this fragrant gloom,
    This ever-open door, are mine.

However hot the heart of day,

    When all its insect cares have flown,
Unto the green I nightly stray
    In moonlit silence all alone.

Four pines are close. They pierce the roof,
    One at each corner of my nest,

And all my dreams are trouble-proof
    As though four angels watched my rest.

Tree-toads and crickets sing to me,
    The screech-owl sends his note from far;
The night wind moves, and dazzlingly

    Comes to my couch the eastern star. [Page 23]

At dawn I hear the squirrels run,
    A larger wind its coolness pour,
And with the first red ray of sun
    Behold the Redbreast at the door.

Oh, sweet to waken with the flowers,
    A morning spirit steeped in calm,
And bear through all the dusty hours
    The night-pure heart, the breath of balm. [Page 24]