I did not sleep; 'twas noon of day;
⁠I saw the burning sunshine fall,
The long grass bending where I lay,
⁠The blue sky brooding over all.

I heard the mellow hum of bees,
And singing birds and sighing trees,
And far away in woody dell
The music of the Sabbath bell.

I did not dream remembrance still
Clasped round my heart its fetter chill;
But I am sure the soul is free
⁠To leave its clay a little while,
Or how in exile misery
⁠Could I have seen my country smile?

In English fields my limbs were laid,
With English turf beneath my head;
My spirit wandered o'er that shore
Where nought but it may wander more.

Yet if the soul can thus return,