SUMMER.

FROM bright'ning fields of æther fair disclos'd, Child of the Sun, refulgent Summer comes, In pride of youth, and felt through Nature's depth : He comes attended by the sultry hours, And ever-fanning breezes, on his way; While from his ardent look the turning Spring Averts her blushful face; and earth, and skies, All-smiling, to his hot dominion leaves.

5

11

Hence, let me haste into the mid-wood shade,
Where scarce a sun-beam wanders thro' the gloom,
And on the dark-green grass, beside the brink
Of haunted stream, that by the roots of oak
Rolls o'er the rocky channel, lie at large,
And sing the glories of the circling year.

Come, Inspiration! from thy hermit seat,
By mortals seldom found: may Fancy dare,
From thy fix'd serious eye, and raptur'd glance
Shot on surrounding Heaven, to steal one look
Creative of the Poet, every power
Exalting to an ecstacy of soul.

And thou, my youthful Muse's early friend,
In whom the human graces all unite;

Pure light of mind, and tenderness of heart;
Genius and wisdom; the gay social sense,
By decency chastis'd; goodness and wit,
In seldom-meeting harmony combin'd;
Unblemish'd honour, and an active zeal
For Britain's glory, Liberty, and Man:
O, Doddington! attend my rural song;

15

20

25

25

Stoop to my theme, inspirit every line,
And teach me to deserve thy just applause.

30

35

40

With what an awful world-revolving power Were first th' unweildy planets launch'd along Th' illimitable void! Thus to remain, Amid the flux of many thousand years, That oft has swept the toiling race of men, And all their labour'd monuments, away. Firm, unremitting, matchless, in their course; To the kind temper'd change of night and day, And of the seasons ever stealing round, Minutely faithful: Such the all-perfect Hand! That pois'd, impels, and rules the steady whole. When now no more th' alternate Twins are fir'd, And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, Short is the doubtful empire of the night; And soon, observant of approaching day, The meek-ey'd Morn appears, mother of dews, At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east: Till far o'er æther spreads the widening glow; And, from before the lustre of her face,

White break the clouds away. With quicken'd step, Brown Night retires: Young Day pours in apace, And opens all the lawny prospect wide.

45

50

The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top,
Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn.

55

Blue, through the dusk, the smoaking currents shine; And from the bladed field the fearful hare

Limps aukward: while along the forest glade

The wild deer trip, and often, turning, gaze
At early passenger. Music awakes

60

The native voice of undissembled joy ;

And thick around the woodland hymns arise.

Rous'd by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves

His mossy cottage, where with peace he dwells;

And from the crowded fold, in order, drives
His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn.

65

Falsely luxurious, will not Man awake; And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour, To meditation due and sacred song?

70

For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?

To lie in dead oblivion, losing half

The fleeting moments of too short a life;

Total extinction of th' enlighten'd soul !

Or else to feverish vanity alive,

75

Wilder'd, and tossing through distemper'd dreams?
Who would in such a gloomy state remain

Longer than Nature craves; when every Muse
And every blooming pleasure wait without,
To bless the widely devious morning walk?

But yonder comes the powerful King of Day,
Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud,
The kindling azure, and the mountains brow
Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach
Betoken glad. Lo, now, apparent all,
Aslant the dew-bright earth, and colour'd air,
He looks in boundless majesty abroad,

And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays

80

85

On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams,
High-gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, Light! 90
Of all material beings first, and best !

Efflux divine! Nature's resplendent robe!
Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt
In unessential gloom; and thou, O Sun!
Soul of surrounding worlds! in whom best seen
Shines out thy Maker! may I sing of thee?

'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force, As with a chain indissoluble bound,

Thy system rolls entire; from the far bourne
Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round
Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk
Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye,
Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze.

95

100

Informer of the planetary train!

106

Without whose quick'ning glance their cumbrous orbs
Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead,
And not, as now, the green abodes of life!
How many forms of being wait on thee!
Inhaling spirit! from the unfetter'd mind,
By thee sublim'd, down to the daily race,
The mixing myriads of thy setting beam.
The vegetable world is also thine,
Parent of Seasons! who the pomp precede

110

That waits thy throne, as through thy vast domain,
Annual, along the bright ecliptic road,

In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime.
Mean-time th' expecting nations, circled gay
With all the various tribes of foodful earth,
Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up

115

A common hymn; while, round thy beaming car, 120 High-seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance Harmonious knit, the rosy-finger'd Hours,

The Zephyrs floating loose, the timely Rains;
Of bloom ethereal, the light-footed Dews,
And, soften'd into joy, the surly Storms.
These, in successive turn, with lavish hand,
Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower,

125

Herbs, flowers, and fruits; till, kindling at thy touch, From land to land is flush'd the vernal year.

Nor to the surface of enliven'd earth,

130

Gracefull with hills, and dales, and leafy woods,

Her liberal tresses, is thy force confin'd;
But to the bowel'd cavern darting deep,

The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power.
Effulgent hence the veiny marble shines;

135

Hence Labour draws his tools; hence burnish'd War

Gleams on the day; the noble works of Peace

Hence bless mankind, and generous Commerce binds The round of nations in a golden chain.

Th' unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee, 149

In dark retirement forms the lucid stone.
The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays,
Collected light, compact; that, polish'd bright,
And all its native lustre let abroad,

Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast,
With vain ambition emulate her eyes.
At thee the ruby lights its deep'ning glow,
And with a waving radiance inward flames.
From thee the sapphire, solid æther, takes
Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct,
The purple streaming amethist is thine.
With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns :
Nor deeper verdure dies the robe of Spring,
When first she gives it to the southern gale,
Than the green em'rald shows. But, all combin'd,
Thick through the whitening opal play thy beams;
Or, flying several from its surface, form
A trembling variance of revolving hues,
As the site varies in the gazers hand.

The very dead creation, from thy touch,
Assumes a mimic life. By thee refin'd,
In brighter mazes the relucent stream
Plays o'er the mead. The precipice abrupt,
Projecting horror on the blacken'd flood,
Softens at thy return. The desart joys
Wildly through all his melancholy bounds.
Rude ruins glitter; and the briny deep,
Seen from some pointed promontory's top,
Far to the blue horizon's utmost verge,
Restless reflects a floating gleam. But this,
And all the much-transported Muse can sing,
Are to thy beauty, dignity, and use,
Unequal far; great delegated source

145

150

155

160

165

170

Of light, and life, and grace, and joy below!-
How shall I then attempt to sing of Him!

175

Who, Light Himself, in uncreated light
Invested deep, dwells awfully retir'd