ELEGY: WRITTEN IN SPRING. 'Tis past the iron North has spent his rage; Of genial heat and cheerful light the source, Far to the north grim Winter draws his train roar. Loos'd from the bands of frost, the verdant ground Behold! the trees new deck their wither'd boughs; The blooming hawthorn variegates the scene; The lily of the vale, of flowers the queen, Soon as o'er eastern hills the morning peers, On the green furze, cloth'd o'er with golden blooms While o'er the wild his broken notes resound. While the sun journeys down the western sky, Along the green sward, mark'd with Roman mound, Beneath the blithsome shepherd's watchful eye, The cheerful lambkins dance and frisk around. Now is the time for those who wisdom love, Thus Zoroaster studied Nature's laws, [cause, Thus Socrates, the wisest of mankind; Thus heav'n-taught Plato trac'd the' Almighty And left the wondering multitude behind. Thus Ashley gather'd academic bays; Thus gentle Thomson, as the Seasons roll, Taught them to sing the great Creator's praise, And bear their poet's name from pole to pole. Thus have I walk'd along the dewy lawn; My frequent foot the blooming wild hath worn; Before the lark I've sung the beauteous dawn, And gather'd health from all the gales of morn. And, ev'n when Winter chill'd the aged year, Then, sleep, my nights, and quiet bless'd my days; Now, Spring returns; but not to me returns Starting and shivering in the' inconstant wind, Th winged moments, whose unstaying speed Oft morning-dreams presage approaching fate; I hear the helpless wail, the shriek of woe; Farewell, ye blooming fields! ye cheerful plains! Enough for me the church-yard's lonely mound, Where melancholy with still silence reigns, And the rank grass waves o'er the cheerless ground. There let me wander at the shut of eve, When sleep sits dewy on the labourer's eyes; The world and all its busy follies leave, And talk with Wisdom where my Daphnis lies. There let me sleep forgotten in the clay, When death shall shut these weary aching eyes! Rest in the hopes of an eternal day, Till the long night is gone, and the last morn arise. |