Sweet Fern
Reading edition
Strange perfume of the wilderness, Elusive as an elfin child That broods above the landscape wild - And haunting as a last caress. From thickets broken and obscure That spicy fragrance down the lea, Brings to the ever murmuring sea The sweetness of the barren moor. Low risen thickets, scarcely seen Among the clumps of reindeer moss; What elfin traceries emboss Your leafy arabesques of green! And if no lonely passer by Has trod your solitude to share That incense - every wandering air Has borne it to the bending sky.