And the gnats are on the wing,
Wheeling round in airy ring.
See the yellow catkins1 cover
All the slender willows over;
And on banks of mossy green
Star-like primroses are seen;
And, their clustering leaves below,
White and purple violets blow.
Hark! the new-born lambs are bleating,
And the cawing rooks are meeting
In the elms-a noisy crowd;
All the birds are singing loud;
And the first white butterfly
In the sunshine dances by.
Look around thee-look around!
Flowers in all the fields abound;
Every running stream is bright;
All the orchard trees are white;
And each small and waving shoot
Promises sweet flowers and fruit.
Turn thine eyes to earth and heaven!
God for thee the Spring has given,
Taught the birds their melodies,
Clothed the earth, and cleared the skies,
For thy pleasure or thy food:-
Pour thy soul in gratitude!
1 Catkins-blossoms-a botanical term, denoting the imperfect species of flower peculiar to the willow, hazel, and a few other trees.
2 Their, &c.—that is, below the leaves of the violets mentioned in the next line.
THE FIRST LAMB.
SPORTIVE harbinger of Spring!
Welcome tidings dost thou bring!
Thy short, timid, quivering bleat
Blends, in unison 2 most sweet,
With the newly-wakened song,
Heard the woodland dell along.
While beneath the hawthorn's shade,
Slumbering peacefully thou'rt laid,
Round thee spring the daisies fair;
Violets scent the balmy air,
And the primrose clusters spread
A soft pillow for thy head:
Start not!-'tis a harmless guest-
The partridge stealing from her nest;
Or the bee, whose soothing hum
Tells the crocus-flowers are come!
Lambkin, I will be thy friend,
my cheerful aid will lend,
Thy weak little feet to guide
To thy tender mother's side.
Soon those tottering feet will bound
O'er the thyme-besprinkled mound;-
Enlivened by the cheering sun,
Soon the jocund race thou'lt run,
And in the sportive frolic join,
With heart as light and gay as mine.
1 Harbinger-a forerunner-the appearance of new-born lambs announces that Spring is coming. See p. 3.
PIPING down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he, laughing, said to me:-
Pipe a song about a lamb,"
So I piped with merry cheer;
"Piper, pipe that song again,"
So I piped; he wept to hear.
"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe,
Sing thy songs of happy cheer,"
So I sang the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.
"Piper, sit thee down and write,
In a book, that all may read.'
So he vanish'd from my sight.
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs,
Every child may joy to hear.
OR, THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.
TELL, if thou canst, how yonder flower
To life and light has burst its way,
Though ten long months beneath the ground
Its snowy petals1 torpid lay.2
1 Petals-flower-leaves as distinguished from the leaves of plants.
Torpid lay-lay undeveloped, as if dead, in the bulb.
Then will I teach thee how a child
From death's long slumber can awake,
And, to eternal life renewed,
His robe of heavenly beauty take.
While from the dust, each circling year,
The snow-drop lifts its humble head,
Say, shall I doubt God's equal power,
To call me from my lowly bed?
"I WISH I were a little bird,
To fly so far and high,
And sail along the golden clouds,
And through the azure sky.
I'd be the first to see the sun
Up from the ocean spring;
And ere it touched the glittering spire,
His ray should gild my wing.
"Above the hills I'd watch him still,
Far down the crimson west;
And sing to him my evening song,
Ere yet I sought my rest.
And many a land I then should see,
As hill and plain I crossed;
Nor fear through all the pathless sky
That I should e'er be lost.
Ere-before it-the sun's ray mentioned in the next line.
"I'd fly where, round the olive bough,
The vine its tendrils weaves;
And shelter from the noonbeams seek
Among the myrtle leaves.
Now if I climb our highest hill,
How little can I see!
Oh had I but a pair of wings,
How happy should I be !
Wings cannot soar above the sky,
As thou in thought canst do;
Nor can the veiling clouds confine
Thy mental eye's keen view.
Not to the sun dost thou chant forth
Thy simple evening hymn;
Thou praisest Him before whose smile
The noonday sun grows dim.
"But thou mayst learn to trace the sun
Around the earth and sky,
And see him rising, setting, still,
Where distant oceans lie.
To other lands the bird may guide
His pinions through the air;
Ere yet he rest his wings, thou art
In thought before him there.
"Though strong and free, his wing may droop,
Or bands restrain its flight;
Thought none may stay-more fleet its course
Than swiftest beams of light;
Mental eye-the eye of the mind, which may, figuratively, be said to see what it thinks about.
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