The Midges dance aboon the burn;
The dews begin to fa’;
The pairtricks down the rushy holm
Set up their e’ening ca’.
Now loud and clear the blackbird’s sang
Rings through the briery shaw,
While, flitting gay, the swallows play
Around the castle wa’.
Beneath the golden gloamin’ sky
The mavis mends her lay;...
O, It is pleasant, with a heart at ease,
Just after sunset, or by moonlight skies,
To make the shifting clouds be what you please,
Or let the easily persuaded eyes
Own each quaint likeness issuing from the mould
Of a friend’s fancy; or, with head bent low,
And cheek aslant, see rivers flow of gold,
’Twixt crimson banks; and then a...
Star that bringest home the bee,
And sett’st the weary laborer free!
If any star shed peace, ’t is thou,
That send’st it from above,
Appearing when heaven’s breath and brow
Are sweet as hers we love.
Come to the luxuriant skies,
Whilst the landscape’s odors rise,
Whilst far-off lowing herds are heard,
And songs...
Mysterious Night! when our first parent knew
Thee, from report divine, I heard thy name,
Did he not tremble for this lovely frame,—
This glorious canopy of light and blue?
Yet ’neath a curtain of translucent dew,
Bathed in the rays of the great setting flame,
Hesperus, with the host of heaven, came,
And lo! creation widened in man’s view...
From “The Seasons,” Conclusion
THESE, as they change, Almighty Father, these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of thee. Forth in the pleasing Spring
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love.
Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm;
Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles;
And every sense and every heart is joy...
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...
Lo! where the rosy-bosomed Hours,
Fair Venus’ train, appear,
And wake the purple year!
The Attic warbler pours her throat
Responsive to the cuckoo’s note,
The untaught harmony of spring:
While, whispering pleasure as they fly,
Cool zephyrs through the clear blue sky
Their gathered fragrance fling.
Where’er the oak’...
From the German by Charles Timothy Brooks
SICKLES sound;
On the ground
Fast the ripe ears fall;
Every maiden’s bonnet
Has blue blossoms on it:
Joy is over all.
Sickles ring,
Maidens sing
To the sickle’s sound;
Till the moon is beaming,
And the stubble gleaming,
Harvest...
Waken, lords and ladies gay,
On the mountain dawns the day;
All the jolly chase is here,
With hawk and horse and hunting-spear!
Hounds are in their couples yelling,
Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling,
Merrily, merrily mingle they,
“Waken, lords and ladies gay.”
Waken, lords and ladies gay,
The mist has left...
The Dusky night rides down the sky,
And ushers in the morn:
The hounds all join in glorious cry,
The huntsman winds his horn,
And a hunting we will go.
The wife around her husband throws
Her arms to make him stay;
“My dear, it rains, it hails, it blows;
You cannot hunt to-day.”
Yet a...
