SPRIN G. COME, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, come, And see where surly Winter passes off, As yet the trembling year is unconfirm❜d, And Winter oft at eve resumes the breeze, Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets Deform the day delightless: so that scarce The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulpht To shake the sounding marsh; or from the shore The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath, At last from Aries rolls the bounteous sun, Lifts the light clouds sublime, and spreads them thin, Forth fly the tepid airs; and unconfin'd, Relenting Nature, and his lusty steers Drives from their stalls, to where the well-used plough The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the scene. Be gracious, Heaven! for now laborious Man In ancient times, the sacred plough employ'd And some, with whom compar'd your insect-tribes Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm The plough, and greatly independent lived. Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough; And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing vales, Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun, Luxuriant and unbounded: as the sea, Far through his azure turbulent domain, Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports; So with superior boon may your rich soil, Exuberant, Nature's better blessings pour O'er every land, the naked nations clothe, And be th' exhaustless granary of a world! Nor only through the lenient air this change, Delicious, breathes: the penetrative sun, His force deep-darting to the dark retreat Of vegetation, sets the steaming power At large, to wander o'er the verdant earth, In various hues; but chiefly thee, gay green! Thou smiling Nature's universal robe! United light and shade! where the sight dwells With growing strength, and ever-new delight. From the moist meadow to the wither'd hill, Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, And swells, and deepens, to the cherish'd eye. The hawthorn whitens; and the juicy groves Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, Till the whole leafy forest stands display'd |