Alone with Nature all around,

Where solitude remains supeme,

Where inner peace and joy abound,

And happiness isn’t a dream,

I think of all the urban ills

That shortly I ‘ve left behind –

Here where beauty ever thrills

With love so free and unconfined;

Where radiant trees and flowers speak

Of their own true, inherent worth

To let my spirit rise and peak

To heights of pure, untainted mirth.

But calls of duty beckons me

To hark back soon to stress and strain

Tomorrow when I’d rather be

Hearing the songbirds sweet refrain.

The sights and smells of freedom dwell

Where Nature bares her naked charm,

And Time rings not the same, old bell

Tolling the dread of fear and harm.

But let me now imbibe the love

And soak my soul with its effect

That is beyond and far above

What must I once again expect.