Nature My Muse

Nature, my muse, has tutored me to tend

Echoing greens, without which life is hard;

To tell the bird the garden's joys, my friend,

And mend his mournful song, O, humble bard.

I mark the flower that holds her scent so back,

For joy in the world springs from a subtle scent;

Nature bids me sit upon the stream's cool track,

To whisper music that the still waters lent.

For you are named by God, their custodian,

And make you, too, a solace for the hand

That toils in fields from morn to eve, though rain

Should threaten thirst and hunger in the land.

This verdant peace, found in the echoing green,

Eases my mental strain, a balm between.

-----Affaq