And swells, and deepens, to the cherished Eye.
The Hawthorn whitens; and the juicy Groves
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees,
Till the whole leafy Forest stands displayed,
In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales;
Where the Deer rustle through the twining brake,
And the Birds sing concealed. At once, arrayed
In all the colors 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 promised Fruit
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived,
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,
Where Freshness breathes, and dash the trembling drops
From the bent bush, as through the verdant maze
Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk;
Or taste the smell of dairy; or ascend
Some eminence, AUGUSTA, in thy plains,
And see the country, far diffused around,
One boundless blush, one white empurpled shower
Of mingled blossoms; where the raptured Eye
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath
The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies.
If, brushed 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, engendered by the hazy North,
Myriads on myriads, Insect armies waft.
Keen in the poisoned breeze; and wasteful eat,
Through buds and bark, into the blackened 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 skillful Farmer chaff
And blazing straw before his orchard burns;
Till, all involved in smoke, the latent Foe
From every cranny suffocated falls;
Or scatters o'er the blooms the pungent dust
Of pepper, fatal to the frosty Tribe;
Or, when the envenomed 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, repressed, Those deepening clouds on clouds, surcharged with rain, That, o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne,
In endless train, would quench the summer blaze,
And, cheerless, drown the crude unripened Year.
The Northeast spends his rage; and now, shut up
Within his iron caves, the effusive South
Warms the wide Air, and o'er the void of Heaven
Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers distent.
At first a dusky Wreath they seem to rise,
Scarce staining Ether; but by fast degrees,
In heaps on heaps, the doubling Vapor sails
Along the loaded sky, and, mingling deep,
Sits on the horizon round a settled gloom:
Not such as wintry Storms on Mortals shed,
Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind,
And full of every hope and every 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. The uncurling Floods, diffused
In glassy breadth, seen 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. Hushed in short suspense,
The plumy People streak their wings with oil,
To throw the lucid moisture trickling off;
And wait the approaching sign to strike, at once,
Into the general choir. Even Mountains, Vales,
And Forests seem, impatient, to demand
The promised 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 freshened world.
The stealing Shower is scarce to patter heard,
By such as wander through the forest walks,
Beneath the umbrageous multitude of leaves.
But who can hold the shade, while Heaven descends
In universal bounty, shedding herbs,
And fruits, and flowers, on Nature's ample lap?
Swift Fancy fired anticipates their growth;
And, while the milky nutriment distills,
Beholds the kindling Country color round.
Thus all day long the full-distended Clouds Indulge their genial stores, and well-showered Earth Is deep enriched 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
The illumined mountain, through the forest streams,
Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist,
Far smoking o'er the interminable plain,
In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems.
Moist, bright, and green, the Landskip laughs around.
Full swell the Woods; their every Music wakes,
Mixed in wild concert, with the warbling Brooks
Increased, the distant bleatings of the Hills,
The hollow lows responsive from the Vales,
Whence, blending all, the sweetened Zephyr springs.
Meantime, refracted from yon eastern cloud,
Bestriding Earth, the grand ethereal Bow
Shoots up immense; and every hue unfolds,
In fair proportion, running from the Red
To where the Violet fades into the sky.
Here, awful NEWTON, the dissolving Clouds
Form, fronting on the Sun, thy showery Prism;
And to the sage-instructed Eye unfold
The various Twine of Light, by thee disclosed
From the white mingling maze.
He, wondering, views the bright Enchantment bend,
Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs
To catch the falling glory; but, amazed,
Beholds the amusive Arch before him fly,
Then vanish quite away. Still Night succeeds,
A softened shade, and saturated Earth
Awaits the Morning beam, to give to light,
Raised through ten thousand different plastic tubes
The balmy treasures of the former day.
Then spring the living Herbs, profusely wild, O'er all the deep green earth, beyond the power
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