William Stanley Braithwaite, "In My Garden" (1901)
And pauses sweetly dying where I sit,
Here in my dear old garden where aloft
The tuneful birds about me sing and flit.
And here today no longing breaks my calm .
No mad desire fraught with ceaseless strife ,
For roses, lilies, aloe-balls have balm
To sooth away the harsher thoughts of life.
This is the place to doze and sink to dreams
As all the while the roses bud and bloom,
And sweet birds warble, and the murmuring streams.
And honeyed bees blend in harmonious tune.
So here today this fresh green June is sweet,
And in my garden dreaming o'er and o'er
I drowse beneath its perfume and its heat
And fill my heart full of sweet nature's lore.
Published in Colored American Magazine, June 1901