NATURE'S BENISONS. NOT only around our infancy Doth Heaven with all its splendours lie;1 Against our fallen and traitor lives The great winds utter prophecies; With our faint hearts the mountain strives, And to our age's drowsy blood Still shouts the inspiring sea. Bubbles we buy with a whole soul's tasking: And what is so rare as a day in June? An instinct within it that reaches and towers, Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers; The flush of life may well be seen Thrilling back over hills and valleys; The cowslip startles in meadows green, The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,1 1 See Wordsworth on Intimations, etc., page 50. 2 benedicite-benediction, or utterance of blessing. Benison, as in title, means blessing conferred. 3 lavish-bountiful. 4 chalice-cup. The little bird sits at his door in the sun, With the deluge of summer it receives; Now is the high-tide of the year, And whatever of life hath ebbed away Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer, Into every bare inlet and creek and bay; Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it, We are happy now because God wills it; No matter how barren the past may have been, 'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green; We sit in the warm shade, and feel right well How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell; We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing That skies are clear and grass is growing; The breeze comes whispering in our ear, That dandelions are blossoming near, That maize has sprouted, that streams are flowing, That the river is bluer than the sky, That the robin is plastering his house hard by; We could guess it all by yon heifer's lowing,- Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how Everything is upwards striving; ; 'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true As for grass to be green, or skies to be blue,— 'Tis the natural way of living: 1 Atilt-poised or balanced. 2 couriers-messengers. 3 chanticleer-the cock, Who knows whither the clouds have fled? In the unscarred1 heaven they leave no wake; And the eyes forget the tears they have shed, The heart forgets its sorrow and ache; The soul partakes the season's youth, And the sulphurous rifts of passion and woe Lie deep 'neath a silence pure and smooth, Like burnt-out craters healed with snow. James Russell Lowell: born, 1819. (See page 22.) A SULTRY SUMMER'S DAY. IT is a sultry day; the sun has drunk Retains some freshness, and I woo the wind 1 unscarred-smooth. 2 rifts-clefts, as in volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. 8 potent fervours-powerful heats. F Gentle and voluble1 spirit of the air? Is it that in his caves He hears me? See, on yonder woody ridge, Shaking a shower of blossoms from the shrubs, William Cullen Bryant: 1794-1878. An American poet. Bryant gained some celebrity at the age of thirteen by the publication of a clever satirical poem on the politics of the day. He began life as a lawyer; but gave up practice in 1825, and devoted himself to literature. He became editor of the New York Evening Post in 1826. Bryant's chief power in poetry lies in the description of wild and solitary scenery, and the mental impressions which arise from contemplation of the works of nature. SUMMER'S EVE. CLEAR had the day been from the dawn, Thin clouds, like scarfs of cobweb lawn, 1 voluble-fluent, easy-moving. The wind had no more strength than this, To make one leaf the next to kiss, The rills that on the pebbles played, And to itself the subtle 1 air Michael Drayton: 1563-1631. At the age of thirty Drayton published a collection of his pastoral poems, and at intervals of a few years, from 1593 to the time of his death, he published several other volumes of verse. His most remarkable work is the Polyolbion, a description of English scenery and society, full of curious information on topographical antiquities, yet poetical throughout. THE FALL OF THE LEAF. RED o'er the forest peers the setting sun, That crown'd the eastern copse: and chill and dun 2 Now the tir'd hunter winds a parting note, How like decaying life they seem to glide! Is all their portion, and they ask no more. 1 subtle-artful: the air being here personified. |