Foliage: Various Poems

<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </SPAN></p> <br/> <h2> SWEET STAY-AT-HOME </h2> <p>Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Well-content,<br/> Thou knowest of no strange continent:<br/> Thou hast not felt thy bosom keep<br/> A gentle motion with the deep;<br/> Thou hast not sailed in Indian seas,<br/> Where scent comes forth in every breeze.<br/> Thou hast not seen the rich grape grow<br/> For miles, as far as eyes can go;<br/> Thou hast not seen a summer's night<br/> When maids could sew by a worm's light;<br/> Nor the North Sea in spring send out<br/> Bright hues that like birds flit about<br/> In solid cages of white ice&mdash;<br/> Sweet Stay-at-Home, sweet Love-one-place.<br/> Thou hast not seen black fingers pick<br/> White cotton when the bloom is thick,<br/> Nor heard black throats in harmony;<br/> Nor hast thou sat on stones that lie<br/> Flat on the earth, that once did rise<br/> To hide proud kings from common eyes,<br/> Thou hast not seen plains full of bloom<br/> Where green things had such little room<br/> They pleased the eye like fairer flowers&mdash;<br/> Sweet Stay-at-Home, all these long hours.<br/> Sweet Well-content, sweet Love-one-place,<br/> Sweet, simple maid, bless thy dear face;<br/> For thou hast made more homely stuff<br/> Nurture thy gentle self enough;<br/> I love thee for a heart that's kind&mdash;<br/> Not for the knowledge in thy mind.<br/></p> <p><br/><br/></p> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />