SEE Nature's fairest gift appear;
The promise of the blooming year,
The rose has burst her infant bands,
And gay in Summer's pride expands,
Queen of flowers, how bright her hue,
Spangled o'er with morning dew;
From her breast what sweets exhale,
At eve when Zephyr's ling'ring gale,
Loth to quit the fond delight,
Flings her refreshing odours to the night.
Pleasure's joyous votaries haste,
Not one precious moment waste,
Make those blushing charms your own,
Seize them now they are fully blown,
And while they grace your flowing hair,
Give no thought to absent Care;
Come with frolic sport advance,
Lead the joy-inspiring dance,
While Music's fascinating pow'rs
Wake to Mirth the laughing hours.
For me a wreath does Fate provide,
A chaplet meet to deck the bride
Who weds Despair-the pallid cypress here,
Shall, mix'd with dark funereal yew, appear.
Ah! never should thy fragrant breath,
Sweet rose, be wasted in the cave of death,
There must the nuptial feast be shortly spread,
There the stern bridegroom waits-my bridal guests
Then not for me, too lavish rose,
Spread thy robe of crimson hue,
Far hence thy balmy sweets disclose,
Whilst I the weeping willow woo.
When the wild winds impetuous blow,
And lay the trembling forest low,
When the tall elm and stately oak,
Fall beneath the furious stroke,
Amidst the ravage of the plains,
The humble willow safe remains ;
She lowly bends again to rise,
When the rude tempest's fury dies.
But not for yielding gentleness alone,
And patient meekness is the willow known;
Tis her distinguish'd lot to prove
The last resource of suff'ring love;
Her graceful foliage decks the maid,
Who
weeps too easy faith betrayed;
Or crowns the drooping love-lorn swain,
Whose haughty fair-one scorns his pain.
Or marks the consecrated spot where sleep
Love's victims, who at length have ceased to weep.
Then still to cureless grief a friend,
Thine aid to me, sweet willow, lend;
Now Hope's deluding visions fade,
Receive within thy darksome shade,
And hide a wretch who shuns the day,
From hateful light's intrusive ray:
Wrapt in thy deep o'ershadowing gloom,
The darker shelter of the tomb,
Can only tempt me to resign,
This lone sequester'd bower of thine ;
For till that last asylum shall enclose,
With its strong fence, my then forgotten woes,
What object so can charm mine eye,
As in the stream that murmurs by,
To see thy pendant branches o'er me wave,
Which shortly shall adorn my peaceful grave.
To hear Ned by the hour blunder forth his vile prose,
Job himself scarcely patience would keep!
He's so dull, that each moment we're ready to doze,
Yet so noisy we can't go to sleep.
**The Glow-Worm is a female CATERPILLAR, the male of which is a FLY, whom she attracts in the night by the splendor of her train.
WHEN Evening closes Nature's eye,
The Glow-worm lights her little spark,
To captivate her favorite Fly,
And tempt the rover thro' the dark.
Conducted by a sweeter star,
Than all that deck the fields above,
The wanderer hastens from afar,
To soothe her solitude with love.
Thus HERO hung her lamps to guide
The daring youth who sought her charms;
And thus LEANDER stemm'd the tide,
Led by its lustre to her arms.
EMBLEM sublime of that primordial Power That brooded o'er the vast chaotic wave, Accept my duteous homage, holy flower! As in thy favourite flood my limbs I lave.
From Ethiopia's lofty mountains roll'd,
Where Nile's proud stream thro' gladden'd Egypt pours,
In raptur'd strains thy praise was hymn'd of old, And still resounds on Ganges' faithful shores!
Within thy beauteous corol's full-blown bell Long since th' Immortals fixed their fond abode, There Day's bright source, OSIRIS, loved to dwell, While by his side enamour'd Isis glow'd.
Hence, not unconscious to his orient beam, At dawn's first blush thy radiant petals spread, Drink deep the effulgence of the solar stream, And, as he mounts, still brighter glories shed.
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