An Alabama Garden

From The Birmingham Age Herald, June 1, 1913.
 

 Along a pine-clad hill it lies,
 O’erlooked by limpid southern skies,
 A spot to feast a fairy’s eyes,
 A nook for happy fancies.
 The wild bee’s mellow monotone
 Here blends with bird notes zephyr-blown,
 And many an insect voice unknown
 The harmony enhances.
 
 The rose’s shattered splendor flees
 With lavish grace on every breeze,
 And lilies sway with flexile ease
 Like dryads snowy-breasted;
 And where gardenias drowse between
 Rich curving leaves of glossy green,
 The cricket strikes his tambourine,
 Amid the mosses nested.
 
 Here dawn-flushed myrtles interlace,
 And sifted sunbeams shyly trace
 Frail arabesques whose shifting grace
 Is wrought of shade and shimmer;
 At eventide scents quaint and rare
 Go straying through my garden fair,
 As if they sought with wildered air
 The fireflies’ fitful glimmer.
 
 Oh, could some painter’s facile brush
 On canvas limn my garden’s blush,
 The fevered world its din would hush
 To crown the high endeavor;
 Or could a poet snare in rhyme
 The breathings of this balmy clime,
 His fame might dare the dart of Time
 And soar undimmed forever!