1'0DIJ!J OJ' 1JA1"1:111&!blUtbgi&ing !at llo&mt.0 FA'l!B..ER I Lord I
The All-beneficent I I bleilll thy name,
That thou hut mantJed the green earth with flowelllt
Linking our hearta to wt.ture I By the love
Of their wild bloaaoms, our young footstep& ftnt
Into her deep receaaes are beguiled-
Her minster cella--dark glen and forest bowel',
Where, thrilling with its earliest eense of thee,
Amidst the low, Teligious whisperings,
The shivery leaf aounda o! the eolitnne,
The epirit wakes to worship, and is made
Thy living temple. By the breath of :flowers,
Thou callest us, from city throngs and c.'\res,
Back to the woods, the birds, the mountain-streams,
That sing of thee! back to free childhood's heart,
Fresh with the deW~~ of tenderness I Thou bidd'st
The lilies of the field with placid smile
Reprove man's feverish st.:rlvings, and infu•
Through his worn soul a more unworldly life,
With their soft, holy breath. Thou hast not let\
Ria purer nAture, with ite tine desires,
Uncared for in thia univene ofthine I
The glowing roae attests it, the beloved
Of poet-hearts, tonch'd by their fenen~ ~
Witb epiritunllight, and made a source
Of ht>aven-a.scending thoughts. E'en to faint age
Thou lend'at the vernal bliss: the old man's eye
Falls on the kindling blossoms, and his soul
Remembers youth and love, and hopefully
Turna unto thee, who call'at earth's buried germs
From dust to splendour ; a.s the mortal seed
Shall, at thy aummons, from the grave spring up
To put on glory, to be girt with power,
And filled with immortality; Receive ·
Thanks, bleasinr., love, for these, thy lavish boons,
And, most of al , their heavenward infiuen(lfa,
0 thou that gaveat us flowers I