Sweet gem! thy blush is like the glow
By convalescence dealt,
That paints the cheek, and gilds the brow,
Where sickness long had dwelt;
Or like the radiant quickening smile,
By kind affection given,
That soothes the heart, despair and guile
Had sunk and almost riven.
Invite thy sisters of the plain,
Each vernal fragrant sweet;
Till with gay tribes of every stain,
The garden smiles replete :
And let thy lovely petals glow,
Still clad in all their charms;
And to distrustful mortals shew
Life buds in death's cold arms.
SING willow wren, sing "chiff chaff,”
While the skies and meadows laugh;
While the fish in lake and stream,
Rise to greet the sunny beam;
While the flies their torpor break,
And to life and pleasure wake;
Darting from the budded spray,
Quick pursue thy winged prey,
And still return with "chiff chaff,"
While the skies and meadows laugh.
Willow wren, sing merrily,
Genial airs breathe o'er the lea;
Violet buds and primrose flowers
Gem the banks and gild the bowers;
Cheerful bees their toils resume,
Rifling every honied bloom;
All is motion, beauty, cheer,
Through the water, earth, and air;
Then chant thy merry
“ chiff chaff,”
While the skies and meadows laugh.
Willow wren, yet louder sing,
On the perch, or on the wing:
Sing, thy mate still hears thy voice,
Make her little heart rejoice:
While she brooding sits at home,
Thou for her support shalt roam,
And her weary task to cheer,
Whisper music in her ear;
Nor while skies and meadows laugh,
Cease warbling forth thy "chiff chaff.”
OFFSPRING of earth! who to the varying sky
These thousand years hast rear'd thy verdant head
Majestically, and spread thy waving arms
In sombre suit array'd.
Oft on the neighbouring plain, when wild war rag'd,
With fierce Baronial hate and feudal pomp,
Shafts of thy growth have cleft the yielding air,
True to the destin'd aim.
And when the tide of strife had ebb'd away,
The warrior's corse, deep gash'd with many a wound,
Thro' night's dull gloom, slow borne upon his shield,
With thy dark plumes was crown'd.
The saint hath dropt his rosary to view
The brighter beads that on thy branches shine,
And felt devotion with a warmer glow
Spring welling from his heart.
Around thy trunk, when exigency call'd,
In council grave the village sages met,
And many a politic contrivance form'd,
And many a struggle plann'd.
And when his health and fortunes both declin'd,
The lord of the surrounding manor here,
Would sigh to think how human follies oft
Contract and cloud life's span.
She who rose lovely as Spring's choicest flower,
Whose bland attractions won all eyes, all hearts,
Pure as the dew, and gracious as the breeze,
Lies withering in thy shade.
The starbeam struggling through the foliage thick,
To mourning pilgrim shews the hallow'd spot,
Where other dews than those of evening fall,
And calls the thought to heaven.
COME again swallow,
Sailing so fleetly
O'er mountain and hollow,
Where verdure smiles sweetly;
Let thy light winglets
Dip in the river,
Whose breast in bright ringlets
Shall ripple and quiver.
Trouts gleam the brook through,
The beam gilds our bowers,
The bees have forsook, too,
Their hive for the flowers.
The trees are in blossom,
And skylarks upspringing,
From earth's dewy bosom,
In ether are singing.
Wildwoods are chanting
Love's blandest measures, And gay wings gallanting
'Mong spring's choicest treasures. Then come while I wander
Where streamlets run clearest,
To muse and to ponder
On themes I love dearest.
Come to my window,
Come to my bower; Come with thy din too,
At morn's freshen'd hour.
We've nests to receive thee,
Then why from us sever?
Nought shall bereave thee
Here, welcome thee ever.
|