 | Metrical Effusions |  |
119
THE HARMONY OF THE CREATION.
“Nor rural sights alone, but rural sounds
Exhilirate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid Nature.”
—Cowper.
Exhilirate the spirit, and restore
The tone of languid Nature.”
—Cowper.
Who hath not heard with raptur'd ear
The lark's shrill matin, echoing clear,
While grove and meadow, far and near,
Resound with tuneful melody?
The lark's shrill matin, echoing clear,
While grove and meadow, far and near,
Resound with tuneful melody?
120
How sweet, how full, the blackbird's note
Seems on the morning gale to float,
While many a warbler strains his throat
To aid the cheerful harmony!
Seems on the morning gale to float,
While many a warbler strains his throat
To aid the cheerful harmony!
When, at fierce noon, the sun rides high,
How sweet on river's brink to lie,
Safe shelter'd from a cloudless sky,
Some shady tree for canopy!
How sweet on river's brink to lie,
Safe shelter'd from a cloudless sky,
Some shady tree for canopy!
There listen to the murmuring stream,
Like one entranc'd in moody dream;
Then mark on distant sail the beam
Of sun-shine glist'ning cheerfully.
Like one entranc'd in moody dream;
Then mark on distant sail the beam
Of sun-shine glist'ning cheerfully.
And oh! what tuneful notes resound,
What heavenly music all around,
When, reach'd his daily journey's bound,
Bright Phœbus sets resplendently!
What heavenly music all around,
When, reach'd his daily journey's bound,
Bright Phœbus sets resplendently!
121
Oft have I loiter'd on my way,
While choristers on every spray
Sang vespers to the closing day,
And vied in sweetest symphony!
While choristers on every spray
Sang vespers to the closing day,
And vied in sweetest symphony!
Is there, whose sensual, grovelling mind,
By taste, by virtue unrefin'd;
Can hear this melody combin'd,
And not enjoy such minstrelsy?
By taste, by virtue unrefin'd;
Can hear this melody combin'd,
And not enjoy such minstrelsy?
In vain to him returning spring
Bids flowrets blow, or songsters sing;
Their charms no heartfelt raptures bring,
Nor wake to mental ecstasy.
Bids flowrets blow, or songsters sing;
Their charms no heartfelt raptures bring,
Nor wake to mental ecstasy.
Not so the man divinely taught;
His soul, with nobler feelings fraught,
Ascends on wings of heavenly thought
To God, the source of Harmony.
His soul, with nobler feelings fraught,
Ascends on wings of heavenly thought
To God, the source of Harmony.
122
In all the music of the grove,
He hears a song of joy and love,
Praising the name of Him above,
The one, eternal Deity!
He hears a song of joy and love,
Praising the name of Him above,
The one, eternal Deity!
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