4. THE SNOW-DROP.
Tell, if thou canst, how yonder flower
To life and light has burst its way,
Though ten long months beneath the ground
Its snowy petals [1] torpid lay?
Then will I teach thee how a child
From death's long slumber can awake, And to eternal life renewed,
His robe of heavenly beauty take. While from the dust, each circling year, The snow-drop lifts its humble head, Say, shall I doubt God's equal power, To call me from my lowly bed?
I wish I were a little bird,
To fly so far and high,
And sail along the golden clouds,
And through the azure sky. I'd be the first to see the sun Up from the ocean spring; And ere it [2] touched the glittering spire, His ray should gild my wing.
"Above the hills I'd watch him still,
Far down the crimson west; And sing to him my evening song, Ere yet I sought my rest.
[1] Petals-the leaves of blossoms.
[2] It-The sun's ray mentioned in the next line.
And many a land I then should see,
As hill and plain I crossed;
Nor fear through all the pathless sky
That I should e'er be lost.
'Id fly where, round the olive bough,
The vine its tendrils weaves;
And shelter from the noonbeams seek,
Among the myrtle leaves.
Now if I climb our highest hill,
How little can I see!
O, had I but a pair of wings,
How happy should I be."
Wings cannot soar above the sky,
As thou in thought canst do;
Nor can the veiling clouds confine
Thy mental eye's keen view.
Not to the sun dost thou chant forth
Thy simple evening hymn;
Thou praisest Him, before whose smile
The noonday's sun grows dim.
"But thou may'st learn to trace the sun,
Around the earth and sky,
And see him rising, setting, still,
Where distant oceans lie.
To other lands the bird may guide
His pinions through the air;
Ere yet he rests his wings, thou art
In thought before him there,
"Though strong and free, his wing may droop, Or bands restrain its flight,
Thought none may stay-more fleet its course Than swiftest beams of light.
A lovelier clime than birds can find,
While summers go and come,
Beyond this earth remains for those,
Whom God doth summon home."
6. THE CUCKOO.
Hail, beauteous stranger of the wood,
Thou messenger of Spring!
Now heaven repairs thy vernal seat,
And woods thy welcome sing.
Soon as the daisy decks the green
Thy certain voice we hear :
Hast thou a star to guide thy path
Or mark the rolling year
Delightful visitant! with thee
I hail the time of flowers,
When heaven [1] is filled with music sweet
Of birds among the bowers.
The schoolboy, wandering in the wood
To pull the primrose gay,
Starts the new voice of spring to hear,
And imitates thy lay.
Soon as the pea puts on the bloom,
Thou fliest the vocal vale,
An annual guest in other lands,
Another Spring to hail.
Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green,
Thy sky is ever clear;
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year!
[1] It should be observed that heaven, in the third line of this poem, is put for God—here it means simply the air.
O! could I fly, I'd fly with thee!
We'd make, with social wing,
Our annual visit o'er the globe,
Companions of the Spring.
7.-INVITATION TO A ROBIN.
Little bird, with bosom red,
Welcome to my humble shed!
Daily near my table steal,
While I take my scanty meal;
Doubt not, little though there be,
But I'll cast a crumb to thee;
Well rewarded if I spy
Pleasure in thy glancing eye,
And see thee, when thou'st had thy fill,
Plume thy breast, and wipe thy bill.
Come, my feathered friend, again,
Well thou know'st the broken pane;
Ask of me thy daily store,
Ever welcome to my door.
8. THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL.
Come, take up your hats, and away let us haste,
To the Butterfly's ball and the Grasshopper's feast :
The trumpeter Gad-fly has summoned the crew,
And the revels are now only waiting for you.
On the smooth-shaven grass, by the side of a wood,
Beneath a broad oak, which for ages has stood,
See the children of earth, and the tenants of air,
For an evening's amusement together repair;
And there came the Beetle, so blind and so black, Who carried the Emmet, his friend, on his back; And there came the Gnat, and the Dragon-fly too, And all their relations, green, orange, and blue.
And there came the Moth, in his plumage of down,
And the Hornet, in jacket of yellow and brown,
Who with him the Wasp his companion did bring;
But they promised that evening to lay by their sting.
And the sly little Dormouse crept out of his hole,
And led to the feast his blind brother, the Mole,
And the Snail, with his horns peeping out from his
shell,
Came from a great distance—the length of an ell.
A mushroom their table, and on it was laid
A water-dock leaf, which a table-cloth made;
The viands were various, to each of their taste,
And the Bee brought his honey to crown the repast.
There, close on his haunches, so solemn and wise,
The Frog from a corner looked up to the skies;
And the Squirrel, well pleased such diversion to see,
Sat cracking his nuts over-head in a tree.
Then out came a Spider, with fingers so fine,
To shew his dexterity on the tight line;
From one branch to another his cobweb he slung,
Then as quick as an arrow he darted along.
But just in the middle, oh! shocking to tell!
From his rope in an instant poor Harlequin fell;
Yet he touched not the ground, but with talons [1]
outspread,
Hung suspended in air at the end of a thread.
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