Chapter XXIV
Reading edition
THE SERVICE OF MUSIC TO THE COUNTRYSIDE
HARMONIES
The scrubbing's done; my kitchen stands arrayed In shining tins, and order reigns supreme. And on the table, like a fairy dream, A row of pies and cakes, all freshly made And full of spicy odors, stands displayed; While from the oven, like a rising stream Of incense, comes a fragrance, warm, supreme ... The bread, its final browning still delayed. Now while I sit beside the oven door I take up my guitar upon my knee, And singing the old songs I knew of yore, My happy youth comes back again to me— Music and incense rising on the air! Courage is mine, and all the world is fair! —Helen Coale Crew.