COME, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come, And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud, While music wakes around, veil'd in a show'r Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. O Hartford, fitted or to shine in courts With unaffected grace, or walk the plain With innocence and meditation join'd In soft assemblage, listen to my song, Which thy own seasou paints; when nature all Is blooming and benevolent, like thee.
And see where surly Winter passes off, Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts: His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill, The shatter'd forest, and the ravag'd vale; While softer gales succeed, at whose kind touch, Dissolving snows in livid torrents lost, The mountains lift their green heads to the sky. As yet the trembling year is unconfirm'd, And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze, Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets Deform the day delightless; so that scarce The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht To shake the sounding marsh; or, from the shore, The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath, And sing their wild notes to the list'ning waste. At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun, And the bright Bull receives him. Then no more Th' expansive atmosphere is cramp'd with cold; But, full of life and vivifying soul,
Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thin, Fleecy and white o'er all-surrounding heav'n. Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfin'd, Unbinding earth, the moving softness strays. Joyous, th' impatient husbandman perceives
Relenting nature, and his lusty steers Drives from their stalls, to where the well-us'd plough Lies in the furrow, loosen'd from the frost. There, unrefusing, to the harness'd yoke
They lend their shoulder, and begin their toil, Cheer'd by the simple song and soaring lark. Meanwhile incumbent o'er the shining share The master leans, removes th' obstructing clay, Winds the whole work, and sidelong lays the glebe. While thro' the neighb'ring fields the sower stalks, With measur'd step; and lib'ral throws the grain Into the faithful bosom of the ground: The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene. Be gracious, Heav'n! for now laborious man Has done his part. Ye fost'ring breezes, blow! Ye soft'ning dews, ye tender show'rs, descend! And temper all, thou world-reviving sun, Into the perfect year! Nor ye who live In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride, Think these lost themes unworthy of your ear: Such themes as these the rural Maro sung To wide imperial Rome, in the full height Of elegance and taste, by Greece refin'd. In ancient times, the sacred plough employ'd The kings and awful fathers of mankind: And some with whom compar'd your insect tribes Are but the beings of a summer's day,
Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm Of mighty war; then, with victorious hand, Disdaining little delicacies, seiz'd
The plough, and greatly independent liv'd. Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough; And o'er your hills, and long-withdrawing vales, Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun, Luxuriant and unbounded! As the sea Far through his azure turbulent domain Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports; So with superior boon may your rich soil, Exuberant, nature's better blessings pour
O'er ev'ry land, the naked nations clothe, And be th' exhaustless granary of a world! Nor only through the lenient air this change, Delicious, breathes: the penetrative sun, His force deep-darting to the dark retreat Of vegetation, sets the steaming pow'r At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth, In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay green! Thou smiling nature's universal robe !
United light and shade! where the sight dwells With growing strength, and ever-new delight. From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill, Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, And swells, and deepens, to the cherish'd eye. The hawthorn whitens, and the juicy groves Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd, In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales; Where the deer rustle through the twining brake, And the birds sing conceal'd. At once, array'd In all the colours of the flushing year, By nature's swift and secret-working hand, The garden glows, and fills the liberal air With lavish fragrance; while the promis'd fruit Lies yet a little embryo, unperceiv'd,
Within its crimson folds. Now from the town, Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noisome damps, Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields, [drops Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze Of sweet-briar hedges I pursue my walk;
Or taste the smell of dairy: or ascend Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains, And see the country far diffus'd around,
One boundless blush, one white-empurpled show'r Of mingled blossoms, where the raptur'd eye Hurries from joy to joy; and, hid beneath The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies.
If brush'd from Russian wilds a cutting gale Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings
The clammy mildew; or dry-blowing, breathe Untimely frost; before whose baleful blast The full-blown Spring through all her foliage shrinks Joyless and dead, a wide-dejected waste. For oft, engender'd by the hazy north, Myriads on myriads, insect armies warp Keen in the poison'd breeze: and wasteful eat, Through buds and bark, into the blacken'd core Their eager way. A feeble race! yet oft The sacred sons of vengeance; on whose course Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year. To check this plague, the skilful farmer chaff And blazing straw before his orchard burns; Till, all involv'd in smoke, the latent foe From ev'ry cranny suffocated falls:
Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe:
Or, when th' envenom'd leaf begins to curl, With sprinkled water drowns them in their nest; Nor, while they pick them up with busy bill, The little trooping birds unwisely scares.
Be patient, swains: these cruel-seeming winds Blow not in vain. Far hence they keep repress'd Those deep'ning clouds on clouds surcharg'd with rain That, o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne,
In endless train, would quench the summer blaze, And, cheerless, drown the crude unripen'd year. The north-east spends his rage: he now shut up Within his iron cave, th' effusive south
Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heav'n Breathes the big clouds with vernal show'rs distent. At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, Scarce staining ether; but by swift degrees, In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails Along the loaded sky; and mingling deep, Sits on th' horizon round a settled gloom: Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind, And full of ev'ry hope and ev'ry joy;
The wish of nature. Gradual sinks the breeze
Into a perfect calm; that not a breath Is heard to quiver through the closing woods, Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves Of aspin tall. Th' uncurling floods diffus'd In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse Forgetful of their course. 'Tis silence all, And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks Drop the dry sprig, and, mute imploring, eye The falling verdure. Hush'd in short suspense, The plumy people streak their wings with oil, To throw the lucid moisture trickling off; And wait th' approaching sign to strike, at once, Into the gen'ral choir. E'en mountains, vales, And forests, seem, impatient, to demand The promis'd sweetness. Man superior walks Amid the glad creation musing praise,
And looking lively gratitude. At last, The clouds consign their treasures to the fields; And, softly shaking on the dimpled pool Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow In large effusion, o'er the freshen'd world. The stealing show'r is scarce to patter heard, By such as wander through the forest-walks, Beneath th' umbrageous multitude of leaves. But who can hold the shade, while heav'n descends In universal bounty, shedding herbs,
And fruits, and flow'rs, on nature's ample lap? Swift fancy fir'd anticipates their growth; And, while the milky nutriment distils, Beholds the kindling country colour round. Thus all day long the full-distended clouds Indulge their genial stores, and well-show'r'd earth Is deep enrich'd with vegetable life;
Till, in the western sky, the downward sun Looks out effulgent, from amid the flush Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes
Th'illumin'd mountain; through the forest streams, Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist, Far smoking o'er th' interminable plain, In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems.
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