Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

When vernal fun-beams pierce their dark retreat,
The heaving tomb diftends with vital heat;
The full-form'd brood, impatient of their cell,
Start from their trance and burst their filken fhell;
Trembling awhile they stand, and scarcely dare
To launch at once upon the untried air.

At length affur'd, they catch the fav'ring gale, And leave their fordid spoils, and high in æther fail.

[ocr errors]

Lo! the bright train their radiant wings unfold,
With filver fringed and freckled o'er with gold.
On the gay bofom of fome fragrant flower
They idly flutt'ring live their little hour;
Their life all pleasure, and their task all play,
All spring their age, and fun-fhine all their day.
Not fo the child of forrow, wretched man:
His course with toil concludes, with pain began,
That his high destiny he might discern,
And in misfortune's fchool this leffon learn,-
Pleasure's the portion of th' inferior kind;
But glory, virtue, Heaven for man defign'd.

What atom forms of infect life appear!
And who can follow Nature's pencil here?

[blocks in formation]

Their wings with azure, green, and purple glofs'd,
Studded with colour'd eyes, with gems embofs'd,
Inlaid with pearl, and mark'd with various stains
Of lively crimson through their dufky veins.
Some shoot like living ftars athwart the night,
And scatter from their wings a vivid light,
To guide the Indian to his tawny loves,

As through the woods with cautious step he moves.
See the proud giant of the beetle race;

What fhining arms his polished limbs enchase!
Like fome ftern warrior formidably bright
His fleely fides reflect a gleaming light;
On his large forehead fpreading horns he wears,
And high in air the branching antlers bears:
O'er many an inch extends his wide domain,
And his rich treasury fwells with hoarded grain,

[blocks in formation]

30

The Frozen Shower.

THE FROZEN SHOWER.

Written at Copenhagen.

ERE yet the clouds let fall the treasur'd fnow,
Or winds began through hazy skies to blow,
At evening a keen eastern breeze arofe,
And the defcending rain unfullied froze.
Soon as the filent fhades of night withdrew,
The ruddy morn disclos'd at once to view
The face of nature in a rich disguise,
And brighten'd every object to my eyes:
For every shrub, and every blade of grass,
And every pointed thorn feem'd wrought in glass ;
In pearls and rubies rich the hawthorns fhow,
While through the ice the crimson berries glow.
The thick-fprung reeds, which watery marshes
yield,

Seem polished lances in a hostile field.
The stag in limpid currents, with surprise
Sees crystal branches on his forehead rise:
The spreading oak, the beech, and tow'ring pine,
Glaz'd over, in the freezing æther shine.

The

Falfe Greatness.

The frighted birds the rattling branches fhun,
Which wave and glitter in the distant sun.
Then, if a fudden guft of wind arife,
The brittle forest into atoms flies,

31

The crackling wood beneath the tempeft bends, And in a spangled shower the prospect ends.

A. PHILLIPS,

FALSE GREATNESS.

MILO, forbear to call him bleft
Who only boasts a large estate,

Should all the treasures of the weft
Meet, and confpire to make him great!

Let a broad ftream with golden fands
Through all his meadows roll,

He's but a wretch with all hislands
That wears a narrow foul.

Were I fo tall to reach the pole,
Or grafp the ocean with my fpan,
I must be measured by my foul:

The mind 's the ftandard of the man!

WATTS

32

The Old Man's Comforts.

THE OLD MAN'S COMFORTS, AND HOW HE GAINED THEM.

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,

"The few locks that are left you are gray: You are hale, father William, a hearty old man: Now tell me the reason, I pray.”

"In the days of my youth," father William replied,

"I remember'd that youth would fly fast, And abus'd not my health and my vigour at first, That I never might need them at last.”

"You are old, father William," the young man cried,

"And pleasures with youth pass away,

And yet you lament not the days that are gone; Now tell me the reason, I pray."

« НазадПродовжити »