Amor Vitae

written by


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I love the warm bare earth and all
  That works and dreams thereon:
I love the seasons yet to fall:
  I love the ages gone,

The valleys with the sheeted grain,
  The river's smiling might,
The merry wind, the rustling rain,
  The vastness of the night.

I love the morning's flame, the steep
  Where down the vapour clings:
I love the clouds that float and sleep,
  And every bird that sings.

I love the purple shower that pours
  On far-off fields at even:
I love the pine-wood dusk whose floors
  Are like the courts of heaven.

I love the heaven's azure span,
  The grass beneath my feet:
I love the face of every man
  Whose thought is swift and sweet.

I let the wrangling world go by,
  And like an idle breath
Its echoes and its phantoms fly:
  I care no jot for death.

Time like a Titan bright and strong
  Spreads one enchanted gleam:
Each hour is but a fluted song,
  And life a lofty dream.

© Archibald Lampman