HA THE CUCKOO CLOCK. ARK! what sound mine ear doth mock? 'Tis the merry cuckoo clock, Chiming like the very bird In earliest days of summer heard, When the huge cathedral bell Of thy admonitory ditty Soothes me in the pent-up city, Cuckoo-clock, thy rural summons Calls me to heathery thorn-grown commons, Of healthful power, life's dearest jewel. And O! what charms thy tuneful shock, All unconscious cuckoo-clock, Had for that child of sweetest features, How often would she pause In the midst of all her play, At the very noontide hour, and stay Held by thy spell of pleasing power, Till with sudden click and jar Who wrought thy wheels, and bade thee tell How oft temptation's sorest trials Environ those enchanting dials, That even the soberest hearts entrammel, With gold enchased, and flowered enamel : But thy wooden aspect homely, In unison with all that's comely, By a charm surpassing beauty. 1842. ON USING AN ETRUSCAN VASE AS TAL A DRINKING CUP. ALK not to me of funeral rites, of dismal tombs of earth; This form, these colours bright, declare this cup was made for mirth. A health to all! to living friends I pledge this goblet's flow; And next, to those who smiled and wept three thousand years ago! This relic brings their joys and griefs to mingle with our own, Though fabling time for centuries on centuries has flown: I seem to see their marriage feasts, the bridegroom and the maid; And new in earth with his crown of gold the warrior grandly laid. How! laid in earth? aye, laid in earth: what thoughts can here affright? |