Poetry of Spring. THE ELOQUENCE OF NATURE. O ye, and read at length the mys G tic lore Where some Niagara's dark waters roar. Draw nearer; tremble at the amaz ing plan; See how they scorn the pygmy works of man. Admire the swelling, grand, fore- Where they are gathering for the awful rush List to the rumbling of the mighty floods, Or, note the tempest's wrath, the lightning's glare, Think how the whirlwind's wrath, the thunder's pride, Suns, planets, comets, on their pathway rolled, . Each flower that sheds its fragrance on the air S° year; First, lusty Spring, all dight in leaves of flowers In which a thousand birds had built their bowers, And in his hand a javelin he did bear, And on his head (as fit for warlike stores) That, as some did him love, so others did him fear. - Edmund Spenser. THE GLORY OF GOD IN CREATION. HOU art, O God, the life and light THO Of all this wondrous world we see; Are but reflections caught from thee. When day, with farewell beam, delays Through opening vistas into heaven, When night, with wings of starry gloom, When youthful Spring around us breathes, WOW morning from her orient chambers came, Now And her first footsteps touch'd a verdant hill : Crowning its lawny crest with amber flame, Silvering the untainted gushes of its rill, Which, pure from mossy beds, did down distill, By many streams a little lake did fill, Which round its marge reflected woven bowers, TH SUNSHINE LAND. HEY came in sight of a lovely shore, What was the secret?- a simple thing (It will make you smile when once you know): So many, so many, so small and bright, They covered the hills with a mantle of light; And the wild bee hummed, and the glad breeze fanned, Through the honeyed fields of Sunshine Land. |