II.

How beautiful! What calm delight to view

New life, new vigour, and new beauty rise

From what was late so desolate.

All new

And lovely now, e'en the remembrance dies
Of chilling blasts or storm defaced skies.

Around young

flowers extend their varied sheen,

And wave their perfum'd heads to Zephyr's sighs, Where mantled in their robes of brightest green The peaceful meadows and their wooded dells are seen.

III.

A heart-expanding sight. How softly sweet
The smiling verdure of the flowery green,
Yielding its mossy carpet to our feet.

What cooling freshness in the leafy screen

Which folds the winding rivulet between
Its pendant branches; now beneath their shade
Pausing awhile, as fearing to be seen;

Then rippling on where waterlilies braid

Its emerald zone with pearls, along the sunny glade.

IV.

Welcome the pleasures Nature's graces yield;
Welcome her soft repose. I too, with thee
Fair Streamlet, from the troubled world conceal'd,
Seek here her quiet converse: flowing free
In musical meand'rings, thou may'st be

The pattern of my verse and thought: thy rest
Beneath the graceful bend of forest tree,

Is calm and tranquil, while thy troubled breast Where more expos'd, marks thee the world's unwilling

guest.

V.

So from the works of man to thee I turn
Fair work of God: upon thy tranquil shrine

The incense of a thankful heart may burn.
While laurel wreaths with other strains entwine
Thy flowery chaplet shall alone be mine:
Mine be the task thy varied scenes to dress

In that soft majesty wherein they shine

On thy fair page, and shew their power to bless The soul with joys of earth without its weariness.

VI.

And thou her Handmaid (waiting still from heaven
When earth became accurs'd) direct my theme
Meek Contemplation! teach me what is given
To Reason's exercise, when thy pure beam
Directs its course aright; no fitful gleam
Of vain imagination suffering,-disperse
The mists of error and the worldling's dream,
While Nature's useful lessons I rehearse,

And class thy words of wisdom in my wand'ring verse.

VII.

Thou tellest now how Spring's young happy day
Comes welcom❜d in. Upon the blooming thorn
The feather'd songster chaunts his roundelay,
And choicest flowers bloom sweetly to adorn
The fragrant garlands of her natal morn.
All youth and beauty! Winter's reign is o'er :
His chilling hours of terror all are gone;
Lost in the gulf of ages, whose dark shore

Time's rapid wing has past-revisiting no more.

VIII.

Yet is the moral left. Spring quickly flies

Before the splendour of the summer ray,
Whose brightness fails as Time still onward hies;
And hoary Winter reassumes his sway.

So glides man's year along; our youthful day
Our fleeting spring thus flies, and summer glows
On manhood's strength, which soon will pass away;
And wintry age brings forth its chilling snows
"Till death o'er all the scene his shadowy mantle throws.

IX.

So swift its course. Full well the Preacher cries

That "All is vanity," and asks "What gain

"Hath man in toil and restlessness? he dies;

"His generations fail; till He ordain

"Their quick return who bids the hills remain

"Unchang'd and changeless. High the glowing sun "Stretches his circuit o'er this seat of pain,

"And hastens onward 'till his course be run,

"Then seeks again the place where first his course begun.

X.

"The wild wind from his wintry cloud springs forth "And southward rushes; thence returning wide

"His shifting tempest seeks the chilly north;
"Turning to turn again. The thirsty tide
"Drinks in the river's strength unsatisfied
"While ocean rolls unfill'd: the streams return

"And spring afresh from out the mountain's side;

66

Wearing again the course their waves have worn, "And plunging o'er the rocks which erst their weight have borne.

XI.

"All things roll on in their accustom'd round "Of ceaseless motion. Man may not express "Creation's wonderful design; unfound, "Unknown its limits, boundless, fathomless, "It sets at nought his mole-eyed nothingness, "And mocks his empty ear. What eye may see "That which before was not? Time's sable dress "May shroud, but that which has been still shall be ""Till mould'ring ages sink in vast eternity."