A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes | ||
311
ODE to SPRING.
By Miss F.
I
Hail, genial goddess, blooming Spring!Thy blest return, O let me sing,
And aid my languid lays:
Let me not sink in sloth supine,
While all creation at thy shrine
Its annual tribute pays.
II
Escap'd from Winter's freezing powerEach blossom greets thee, and each flower;
And, foremost of the train,
By Nature, (artless handmaid!) drest,
The snow-drop comes in lilly'd vest,
Prophetic of thy reign.
III
The lark now strains his warbling throat,While every loud and sprightly note
Calls Echo from her cell.
Be warn'd, ye fair, that listen round,
A beauteous maid became a sound,
A maid who lov'd too well.
IV
The bright-hair'd sun with warmth benignBids tree, and shrub, and swelling vine
Their infant-buds display:
Again the streams refresh the plains,
Which Winter bound in icy chains,
And sparkling bless his ray.
312
V
Life-giving Zephyrs breathe around,And instant glows th'enamel'd ground
With Nature's vary'd hues:
Not so returns our youth decay'd,
Alas! nor air, nor sun, nor shade
The spring of life renews.
VI
The sun's too quick-revolving beamWill soon dissolve the human dream,
And bring th'appointed hour:
Too late we catch his parting ray,
And mourn the idly-wasted day
No longer in our power.
VII
Then happiest he, whose lengthen'd sightPursues, by virtue's constant light,
A hope beyond the skies;
Where frowning Winter ne'er shall come,
But rosy Spring for ever bloom,
And suns eternal rise.
A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes | ||