ALL THINGS RETURN.
WHY chidest thou the tardy spring?
The hardy bunting does not chide;
The blackbirds make the maples ring
With social cheer and jubilee :
The redwing flutes his o-ka-lee,
The robins know the melting snow;
The sparrow meek, prophetic-eyed,
Her nest beside the snow-drift weaves,
Secure the osier yet will hide
Her callow brood in mantling leaves,
And thou, by science all undone,
Why only must thy reason fail,
To see the southing of the sun?
The world rolls round, - mistrust it not,
Befalls again what once befell :
All things return, both sphere and mote,
And I shall hear my bluebird's note,
And dream the dream of Auburn dell.
I KNOW the trusty almanac
Of the punctual coming-back,
On their due days, of the birds.
I marked them yestermorn,
A flock of finches darting
Beneath the crystal arch;
Piping as they flew, a march,—
Belike the one they used in parting
Last year from yon oak or larch;
Dusky sparrows in a crowd,
Diving, darting northward free,
Suddenly betook them all-
Every one to his hole in the wall,
Or to his niche in the apple-tree.
I greet with joy the choral trains
Fresh from palms and Cuba's canes.
Best gems of Nature's cabinet,
With dews of tropic morning wet,
Beloved of children, bards, and Spring.
O birds, your perfect virtues bring,
Your song, your forms, your rhythmic flight,
Your manners for the heart's delight,
Nestle in hedge, or barn, or roof,
Here weave your chamber weather-proof.
Forgive our harms, and condescend
To man, as to a lubber friend,
And, generous, teach his awkward race
Courage and probity and grace.
THE BIRD LOVER.
MANY haps fall in the field
Seldom seen by wishful eyes;
But all her shows did Nature yield,
To please and win this pilgrim wise.
He saw the partridge drum in the woods;
He heard the woodcock's evening hymn;
He found the tawny thrushes' broods;
And the sky-hawk did wait for him;
What others did at distance hear,
And guessed within the thicket's gloom,
Was shown to this philosopher,
And at his bidding seemed to come.
Calls all her chirping family around,
Fed and defended by the fearless cock,
Whose breast with ardor flames, as on he walks,
Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond
The finely-checkered duck, before her train,
Rows garrulous. The stately-sailing swan
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale;
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier-isle,
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh,
Loud-threatening, reddens; while the peacock spreads
His every-colored glory to the sun,
And swims in radiant majesty along.
O'er the whole homely scene, the cooing dove
Flies thick in amorous chase, and wanton, rolls
The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck.
There was once a nest in a hollow;
Down in the mosses and knot-grass pressed,
Soft and warm, and full to the brim -
Vetches leaned over it purple and dim,
With buttercup buds to follow.
I pray you, hear my song of a nest,
For it is not long:
You shall never light in a summer quest
Shall never light on a prouder sitter,
A fairer nestful, nor ever know
A softer sound than their tender twitter
That wind-like did come and go.
THE WILD DUCK'S NEST.
THE Imperial Consort of the Fairy King
Owns not a sylvan bower or gorgeous cell
With emerald floored, and with purpureal shell
Ceilinged and roofed, that is so fair a thing
As this low structure, for the tasks of Spring.
Prepared by one who loves the buoyant swell
Of the brisk waves, yet here consents to dwell;
And spreads in steadfast pace her brooding wing.
Words cannot paint the o'ershadowing yew-tree bough,
And dimly-gleaming nest a hollow crown
Of golden leaves inlaid with silver down,
Fine as the mother's softest plumes allow ;
and, self-accused while gazing, sighed For human kind, weak slaves of cumbrous pride!
THE SPARROW'S NEST.
BEHOLD, within the leafy shade,
Those bright-blue eggs together laid!
On me the chance-discovered sight
Gleamed like a vision of delight.
I started, seeming to espy
The home and sheltered bed,
The sparrow's dwelling, which hard by
My father's house, in wet or dry
My sister Emmeline and I
Together visited.
She looked at it as if she feared it;
Still wishing, dreading, to be near it.
Such heart was in her, being then
A little prattler among men.
The blessing of my later years
Was with me when a boy:
She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble cares and delicate fears
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears ;
And love and thought and joy.
ROCK in the wind, little nest;
When you are full, life is best;
Soon enough wings will be grown,
Flutter, and leave you alone.
Rock in the wind, little nest;
Say what are storms to the blest?
Though you should tremble and fall,
God cares for sparrows and all!
WITHIN a thick and spreading hawthorn bush,
That overhung a molehill large and round,
I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
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