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IRISH SONGS AND LYRICS 261 |
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PERCY SOMERS PAYNE
(1850-1874)
REST
S
ILENCE sleeping on a waste of ocean — Sun-down—westward traileth a red streak — One white sea-bird, poised with scarce a motion, Challenges the stillness with a shriek — Challenges the stillness, upward wheeling
Where some rocky peak containeth her rude nest; For the shadows o'er the waters they come stealing, And they whisper to the silence: " There is Rest."
Down where the broad Zambesi River
Glides away into some shadowy lagoon Lies the antelope, and hears the leaflets quiver,
Shaken by the sultry breath of noon — Hears the sluggish water ripple in its flowing;
Feels the atmosphere, with fragrance all opprest; Dreams his dreams; and the sweetest is the knowing
That above him, and around him, there is Rest.
Centuries have faded into shadow.
Earth is fertile with the dust of man's decay; Pilgrims all they were to some bright El-dorado,
But they wearied, and they fainted, by the way. |
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