As bursting thunder rolls from cloud to cloud. With ears erect, and chest of vigorous mould, O'er ditch, o'er fence, unconquerably bold, The straining courser lengthens every bound, And his strong fetlocks suck the moisten'd ground.
DEFEATING oft, the labours of the year, The sultry south collects a potent blast; At first, the groves are scarcely seen to stir Their trembling tops, and a still murmur runs Along the soft inclining fields of corn; But as the aërial tempest fuller swells, And in one mighty stream invisible, Immense, the whole excited atmosphere Impetuous rushes o'er the sounding world. Strained to the root, the stooping forest pours A rustling shower of yet untimely leaves. High beat, the circling mountains eddy in, From the bare wild, the dissipated storm, And send it in a torrent down the vale, Expos'd and naked to its utmost rage; Through all the sea of harvest rolling round, The billowy plain floats wide, nor can evade, Though pliant to the blast, its seizing force; Or whirl'd in air, or into vacant chaff
Shook waste and sometimes too, a burst of rain, Swept from the black horizon, broad descends
In one continuous flood. Still, overhead, The mingling tempest weaves its gloom, and still The deluge deepens, till the fields around Lie sunk and flatted in the sordid wave. Sudden the ditches swell, the meadows swim: Red from the hills, innumerable streams Tumultuous roar, and high above its banks The river lift, before whose rushing tide Herds, flocks and harvests, cottages and swains, Roll mingled down; all that the winds had spar'd, In one wild moment ruin'd; the big hopes And well-earn'd treasures of the painful year. Fled to some eminence, the husbandman, Helpless, beholds the miserable wreck Driving along; his drowning ox, at once, Descending, with his labours scatter'd round, He sees; and instant o'er his shivering thought Comes winter unprovided, and a train
Of claimant children dear. Ye masters, then, Be mindful of the rough, laborious hand, That sinks
you soft in elegance and ease; Nor cruelly demand what the deep rains And all involving winds have swept away.
AUTUMN PASSING AWAY.
AUTUMN'S charms are fading fast; Mark how every bitter blast
Scatters, as it whirls around, Showers of leaves upon the ground; Ah, no hand its force can stay, Ah, 'twill soon be swept away,
Midst the ruins of the year, See the cheerful bird appear; Who, of all the warbling train, Hails, alone, sad Winter's reign, And through each dark and dismal day, Sings the lingering hours away. And shall thy sweet example be Unheeded, gentle bird, by me; Or shall its influence fail to move A wish of emulative love. No! I will view thy patient form, And learn to bear the beating storm.
Back to the past, I turn my eyes; How many blessings there arise! Blessings so undeserv'd, that still My heart must feel the grateful thrill. Sweet monitor! I'll learn to be Still cheerfully resign'd, like thee.
HAIL! lovely season of the changing year! What varied beauties clothe the mellow scene Beneath October's reign; the wand'ring eye
Incessant roves around o'er fields and woods, And orchards gay, with blushing fruit adorn'd. Ten thousand rich harmonious tints prevail Through all the vegetable world, and show Nature's inimitable art in all.
enchains On some still day, when deep repose The loud discordant winds, how sweet a calm Pervades the scene, as Nature's self repos'd In all her varied works, and whisper'd rest The annual song To restless toilsome man.
Of birds has nearly ceas'd, though one whose
To me is full of music, chaunts aloud His cheerful strain.-
OH! how has Nature's hand, which works unseen, Through the revolving seasons, changed the scene! Stript of its fruits, and flowers, and verdure gay, Not one autumnal beauty left, the Earth, Wrapt in her dusky mantle, sees, resign'd, Stern Winter's dreary reign commence. Chill rain incessant pouring floods the fields; And from opposing quarters, mighty winds, On the same errand bent, with busy hands, Tear from the groaning woods the lingering leaves. The rattling hail descends; undoubted pledge Of frost and snow, and tempests yet to come.
O WINTER, ruler of the inverted year, 'Thy scatter'd hair, with sleet like ashes fill'd; Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips; thy cheeks Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows Than those of age; thy forehead wrapt in clouds, A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne, A sliding car indebted to no wheels,
But urg'd by storms along its slippery way. I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st, And dreaded as thou art.
I crown thee king of intimate delights, Fireside amusements, home-born happiness, And all the comforts that the lowly roof Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours Of long, uninterrupted evenings know.
HUNG o'er the farthest verge of Heaven, the Sun Scarce spreads through æther, the dejected day. Faint are his gleams; and ineffectual shoot His struggling rays in horizontal lines
Through the thick air, as cloth'd in cloudy storm, Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the southern sky; And soon descending, to the long, dark night, Wide shading all, the prostrate world resigns. Then comes the father of the tempest forth,
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