ADIEU TO FRANCE.
��ADIEU to sunny France ! I call it so, Because my betters have. Yet for my part
I have been all but perished in her clime, Frost-stricken to the bone, and to the heart ;
The Seine in one night turned to ice ! I own
I d not expected this, short of the Arctic zone.
Wood l>y the pound ! T was an astonishment, Next to the shock of water sold by measure,
Each tiny stem and stalk so strictly weighed, Each little grape-vine faggot such a treasure !
Oh ! for the coal of England, glowing bright,
Or even my slighted friend, the homelier anthracite.
I came in Autumn, when the vines had shrunk From prop and trellis ; yet the verdant trees
Danced to the gale that swept the Elysian fields, And rose and pansy dared the chilling breeze ;
I leave in Winter, and so cannot say,
How her beau del may smile neath happier sea sons sway.
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