Oh! Had We Some Bright Little Isle Of Our Own

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1 id="id01902" style="margin-top: 6em">OH! HAD WE SOME BRIGHT LITTLE ISLE OF OUR OWN.</h1> <p id="id01903" style="margin-top: 2em">Oh! had we some bright little isle of our own,<br/> In a blue summer ocean, far off and alone,<br/> Where a leaf never dies in the still blooming bowers,<br/> And the bee banquets on thro' a whole year of flowers;<br/> Where the sun loves to pause<br/> With so fond a delay,<br/> That the night only draws<br/> A thin veil o'er the day;<br/> Where simply to feel that we breathe, that we live,<br/> Is worth the best joy that life elsewhere can give.<br/></p> <p id="id01904">There, with souls ever ardent and pure as the clime,<br/> We should love, as they loved in the first golden time;<br/> The glow of the sunshine, the balm of the air,<br/> Would steal to our hearts, and make all summer there.<br/> With affection as free<br/> From decline as the bowers,<br/> And, with hope, like the bee,<br/> Living always on flowers,<br/> Our life should resemble a long day of light,<br/> And our death come on, holy and calm as the night.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />