When Lydia Smiles

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When Lydia smiles, I seem to see
The walls around me fade and flee;
  And, lo, in haunts of hart and hind
  I seem with lovely Rosalind,
In Arden 'neath the greenwood tree:
The day is drowsy with the bee,
And one wild bird flutes dreamily,
  And all the mellow air is kind,
  When Lydia smiles.

Ah, me! what were this world to me
Without her smile!--What poetry,
  What glad hesperian paths I find
  Of love, that lead my soul and mind
To happy hills of Arcady,
  When Lydia smiles!

© Madison Julius Cawein