ine
To ennoble them with leafy hair o'ergrown,
Are poplars of Alcides; laurels shine,
The which the shining God loved as his own;
Myrtles of Cytherea with the pine
Of Cybele, by other love o'erthrown;
The spreading cypress tree points out where lies
The seat of the ethereal paradise....
Pomegranates rubicund break forth and shine,
A tint whereby thou, ruby, losest sheen.
'Twixt the elm branches hangs the jocund vine,
With branches some of red and some of green....
Then the refined and splendid tapestry,
Covering the rustic ground beneath the feet,
Makes that of Achemeina dull to be,
But makes the shady valley far more sweet.
Cephisian flowers with head inclined we see
About the calm and lucid lake's retreat....
'Twas difficult to fancy which was true,
Seeing on heaven and earth all tints the same,
If fair Aurora gave the flowers their time,
Or from the lovely flowers to her it came;
Flora and Zephyr there in painting drew
The violets tinted, as of lovers' flame,
The iris, and the rose all fair and fresh
E'en as it doth on cheek of maiden blush....
Along the water sings the snow-white swan,
While from the branch respondeth Philomel....
Here, in its bill, to the dear nest, with care,
The rapid little bird the food doth bear.

Subjective feeling for Nature is better displayed in the lyric than
the epic.

The Spaniard, Fray Luis de Leon, was a typical example of a
sixteenth-century lyrist; full of mild enthusiasm for Nature, the
theosophico-mystical attitude of the Catholic.

A most fervid feeling for Nature from the religious side breathed in
St Francis of Assisi--the feeling which inspired his hymn to Brother
Sun (_Cantico del Sole_), and led his brother Egidio, intoxicated
with love to his Creator, to kiss trees and rocks and weep over
them[12]:

Praised by His creatures all,
Praised be the Lord my God
By Messer Sun, my brother above all,
Who by his rays lights us and lights the day--
Radiant is she, with his great splendour stored,
Thy glory, Lord, confessing.
By Sister Moon and Stars my Lord is praised,
Where clear and fair they in the heavens are raised
By Brother Wind, etc....

His follower, Bonaventura, too, in his verses counted--

The smallest creatures his brothers and sisters, and called upon
crops, vineyards, trees, flowers, and stars to praise God.

Bernard von Clairvaux made it a principle 'to learn from