The Flowers of the Tropics

In the soft sunny regions that circle the waist

Of the globe with a girdle of topaz and gold,

Which heave with the throbbings of life where they're placed,

And glow with the fire of the heart they enfold;

Where to live, where to breathe, seems a paradise dream

A dream of some world more elysian than this

Where, if Death and if Sin were away, it would seem

Not the foretaste alone, but the fulness of bliss.

Where all that can gladden the sense and the sight,

Fresh fruitage as cool and as crimson as even;

Where the richness and rankness of Nature unite

To build the frail walls of the Sybarite's heaven.

But, ah! should the heart feel the desolate dearth

Of some purer enjoyment to speed the bright hours,

In vain through the leafy luxuriance of earth

Looks the languidlit eye for the freshness of flowers.

No, its glance must be turned from the earth to the sky,

From the clayrooted grass to the heavenbranching trees;

And there, oh! enchantment for soul and for eye,

Hang blossoms so pure that an angel might seize.

Thus, when pleasure begins from its sweetness to cloy,

And the warm heart grows rank like a soil over ripe,

We must turn from the earth for some promise of joy,

And look up to heaven for a holier type.