SONNET.

ALAS! what boots the long laborious quest
Of moral prudence, sought through good and ill
Or pains abstruse to elevate the will,

And lead us on to that transcendent rest
Where every passion shall the sway attest
Of Reason, seated on her sovereign hill;
What is it but a vain and curious skill,
If sapient Germany must lie deprest,

Beneath the brutal sword? Her haughty Schools
Shall blush; and may not we with sorrow say,
A few strong instincts and a few plain rules,
Among the herdsmen of the Alps, have wrought
More for mankind at this unhappy day

Than all the pride of intellect and thought?

THE RAINBOW. ·

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man

So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

SONNET.

WITH Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, Like stars in heaven, and joyously it showed; Some lying fast at anchor in the road,

Some veering up and down, one knew not why.
A goodly Vessel did I then espy

Come like a giant from a haven broad;
And lustily along the bay she strode,

Her tackling rich, and of apparel high.

This Ship was nought to me, nor I to her,
Yet I pursued her with a Lovers look;

This Ship to all the rest did I prefer:

When will she turn, and whither? She will brook No tarrying; where She comes the winds must stir On went She, and due north her journey took.

WRITTEN IN MARCH,

WHILE RESTING ON THE BRIDGE AT THE FOOT OF BROTHER'S WATER,

THE Cock is crowing,
The stream is flowing,
The small birds twitter,
The lake doth glitter,

The green field sleeps in the sun;
The oldest and youngest

Are at work with the strongest;
The cattle are grazing,

Their heads never raising;

There are forty feeding like one

Like an army defeated
The Snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill

On the top of the bare hill;
The Ploughboy is whooping

There's joy in the mountains;
There's life in the fountains ;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;

The rain is over and gone

anon anon