17.09.2007, 10:19
The Earthly Paradise
A wondrous morning, sunlit, mild and still!
No cloud on depthless azure; not a breeze
To wake brief murmur from the tranquil trees;
No shade as yet upon the pine-clad hill.
Through all wide nature a delicious thrill
Of living, joyous, silence; birds and bees
Hushed, e'en as I, in long luxurious ease,
As if of life the world had drunk its fill.
Then sudden thought of darkness on me fell;
Of hideous murder at that moment done;
Of madeness shrieking in its distant cell;
Deaths, partings, tears - one never-ceasing yell
Of woe and crime beneath the smiling sun,
Amid this peaceful Paradise of Hell.
A wondrous morning, sunlit, mild and still!
No cloud on depthless azure; not a breeze
To wake brief murmur from the tranquil trees;
No shade as yet upon the pine-clad hill.
Through all wide nature a delicious thrill
Of living, joyous, silence; birds and bees
Hushed, e'en as I, in long luxurious ease,
As if of life the world had drunk its fill.
Then sudden thought of darkness on me fell;
Of hideous murder at that moment done;
Of madeness shrieking in its distant cell;
Deaths, partings, tears - one never-ceasing yell
Of woe and crime beneath the smiling sun,
Amid this peaceful Paradise of Hell.