SCRoots, THE LAND OF THE CYPRESS AND PINE

I SIGH FOR THE LAND OF THE CYPRESS AND PINE
by Samuel Henry Dickson, M.D.

I sigh for the land of the Cypress and Pine,
Where the jessamine blooms and the gay woodbine;
Where the moss droops low from the green oak tree, -
Oh ! that sun-bright land is the land for me !

The snowy flower of the orange there,
Sheds its sweet fragrance through the air;
And the Indian rose delights to twine
Its branches with the laughing vine.

There the deer leaps light through the open glade,
Or hides him far in the forest shade,
When the woods resound in the dewy morn
With the clang of the merry hunter's horn.

There the humming-bird of rainbow plume
Hangs o'er the scarlet creepers' bloom;
While 'midst the leaves, his varying dyes
Sparkle like half-seen fairy eyes.

There the echoes ring through the livelong day
With the mock-bird's changeful roundelay;
And at night when the scene is calm and still,
With the moan of the plaintive whip-poor-will.

Oh ! I sigh for the land of the Cypress and Pine,
Of the laurel, the rose, and the gay woodbine;
Where the long gay moss decks the rugged oak tree -
That sun-bright land is the land for me.

Samuel Henry Dickson, M.D. (1798-1872)
Dickson was a native of South Carolina where he was a founding father of The Medical College in Charleston. His collected poetry was published in 1844 and he frequently contributed to the Southern Literary Messenger, and the Southern Quarterly Review.

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