Tuesday Poetry: What more was Paradise?

This week's poetry selection comes from a book my dad gave me for Christmas this year. 

This year I asked my family to each give me a book that meant something to them.

My dad gave me this one:

it was given to him by my grandfather, from his mother

so it's my great-grandmother's poetry book!

A Mountain Pastoral

by Lucy Larcom

A couple at a cottage door,

Under the maple trees;

A mountain landscape stretched before,

behind, beside; and nothing more

the passing traveler sees.

And is there more?  The man and maid

Who caught your idle glance

Love's pretty hide-and-seek and played

Before they stood there in the shade,

Reading their own romance.

And he is young and true and strong;

And she is young and wise,

All hopes that to fresh hearts belong

Around their humble doorstone throng;

What more had Paradise?

Green are their waiting fields of toil,

With wildflowers blossoming sweet,

The living wealth no thief can spoil,

The boundless treasures of the soil,

Lie poured out at their feet.

Their neighbors?  Not far off are they,

Beyond the bright home hill - 

White Face, and Passaconaway,

And old Chocorua, rising gray,

Dreamy, remote, and still.

The future opens fair and wide

Within the young man's eyes;

The mountains bless the sweet girl-bride;

Life is a dream-land glorified.

What more was Paradise?