Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
France: Vols. IX–X. 1876–79.
Near Cannes
By Cora Kennedy AitkenH
Their wings to stillness in the shade
Of lines of willow-trees, that hold
Sweet secrets in them unbetrayed;
Half music and half sun, we hear
Ripples of water touch the ground,
And smell the lilies bending near.
Lies with his yellow locks between
The poppy blooms that one by one
Steal blushing to him through the green.
That e’er a lover honored yet
With glance made sweet by sweetest thoughts
Are softly in the grasses set.
Whose white feet pass the meadows by,
Mute in an awe-struck dream of God,
The poplars look up to the sky.