~~Jpripg,
Now that tbe winter's gone, the earth hath lOAt
Her ano"lr·White robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake, or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws t'he benumWd eutb,
And makea it tender ; gives a. eecond birth
To the dead a wallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drows~ cuckoo, and the humble bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrel.s bring
ln triumph to the world the youthful Spring:
The valleys, hills, and woods, in rich arrar,
Welcome the coming ortbe long'd..for May.
u.
The swl\llow, f or a moment seen,
Skims in haste the village green ;
From the grey lll.OOr, on feeble wing,
The screamir.g plovers idly spring. ·
Fraught with a transient frozen shower
If a cloud should haply lour,
Sailing o'er the lnndsell.pe dat·k,
Mute on a sudde~ is the lArk;
But when glenma the ann again,
O'er the pearl-besprinkled plain,
And from behind his wntery veil
Looks through the thin-descending bail ;
She mounts, a.nd, lel!llening to the eight,
&lutes the blithe return of light,
And high her tuneful tracx pursues
'Mid the dim ra4l.bow'a scatter'd hues.PI!
Now Nnture hangs her mantle green
On every blooming tree,
And spreads her eheet.e o^1 daisies white
Out o'er the~ le,a.
And lav'l'OCks wake t~Q merry mo:rc 1
Aloft on dewy wing ; ·
'i'lae merl!l, in his noontide bower,
M.akea woodland echoes ring
CAREW •