Careless Rambles

I love to wander at my idle will,
In summer's luscious prime, about the fields,
To kneel, when thirsty, at the little rill,
And sip the draught its pebbly bottom yields
And where the maple bush its fountain shields,
To lie, and rest a sultry hour away,
Cropping the swelling peascod from the land;
Or 'mid the sheltering woodland-walks to stray,
Where oaks for aye o'er their old shadows stand;
'Neath whose dark foliage, with a welcome hand,
I pluck the luscious strawberry, ripe and red
As Beauty's lips; — and in my fancy's dreams,
As 'mid the velvet moss I musing tread,
Feel Life as lovely as her picture seems.