4.

I marked his look of faithful love;

I placed my hand on his shaggy side: "There is a sun that shines above," "A sun that shines on both," I cried.

128.-BLOSSOMS. [ROBERT HERRICK.]
1.

Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do you fall so fast?

Your date is not so past;
But you may stay yet here awhile
To blush and gently smile,
And go at last.

2.

What! were ye born to be
An hour or half's delight,
And so to bid good night?
'Twas pity nature brought ye forth
Merely to show your worth,
And lose you quite.

3.

But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have
Their end, though ne'er so brave:
And after they have shewn their pride
Like you, awhile, they glide

Into the grave.

E

129. THE COTTAGER TO HER CHILD.
[WILLIAM WORDSWORTH].

1.

The days are cold, the nights are long,
The north wind sings a doleful song;
Then hush again upon my breast,
All merry things are now at rest,
Save thee, my pretty love!
2.

The kitten sleeps upon the hearth,
The crickets long have ceased their mirth;
There's nothing stirring in the house
Save one small hungry nibbling mouse--
Then why so busy thou?

3.

Nay, start not at that sparkling light,
'Tis but the moon that shines so bright
On the window pane bedropped with rain.
Then, little darling, sleep again,

And wake when it is day.

130. TO A FLOWER CALLED "THE FRINGED GENTIAN." [WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT].

1.

Thou blossom, bright with autumn dew And coloured with the heaven's own blue, That openest when the quiet light Succeeds the keen and frosty night.

2.

Thou comest not when violets lean

O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen, Or columbines, in purple drest,

Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest.
3.

Thou waitest late, and com'st alone
When woods are bare, and birds are flown;
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near its end.

4.

I would, that thus, when I shall see
The hour of death draw near to me,
Hope, blossoming within my heart,
May look to heaven as I depart.

131.-MARCH.

[WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.]

1.

The stormy March is come at last,

With wind, and cloud, and changing skies:

I hear the rushing of the blast,

That through the snowy valley flies.

2.

Ah! passing few are they who speak,
Wild, stormy month, in praise of thee;
Yet, though thy winds are loud and bleak,
Thou art a welcome month to me.

E 2

3.

For thou to Northern lands again

The glad and glorious Sun dost bring, And thou hast joined the gentle train, And wear'st the gentle name of Spring.

4.

Thou bring'st the hope of those calm skies, And that soft time of sunny showers, When the wide bloom, on earth that lies, Seems of a brighter world than ours.

132. THE GLOW WORM.

1.

[WILLIAM COWPER.]

Beneath the hedge, or near the stream,
A worm is known to stray,
That shews by night a lucid beam,
Which disappears by day.

2.

Perhaps indulgent Nature meant,
By such a lamp bestowed,
To bid the traveller, as he went,

Be careful where he trode:

3.

Nor crush a worm whose useful light
Might serve, however small,

To shew a stumbling-stone by night,
And save him from a fall.

4.

Whate'er she meant, this truth divine
Is legible and plain :

'Tis power Almighty bids him shine,
Nor bids him shine in vain.

133. THE HOLLY TREE.

1.

[ROBERT SOUTHEY.]

O Reader! hast thou ever stood to see
The Holly Tree?

The eye

that contemplates it well, perceives
Its glossy leaves

Ordered by an intelligence so wise,

As inight confound a bad man's sophistries.

2.

I love to view all things with curious eyes
And moralize:

And in this wisdom of the Holly Tree,
Can emblems see,

Wherewith perchance to make a pleasant rhyme, One which may profit in the after-time.

3.

For, as when all the summer trees are seen,
So bright and green,

The holly leaves their fadeless hues display,
Less bright than they:

But when the bare and wintry woods we see,
What then so cheerful as the Holly Tree?