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THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



A MATIN SONG 



BY EDMUND J. SAWYER SCHENECTADY, N. Y. 



As melts autumnal snow from earth, 

 As roses blush when they have birth ; 

 So from the east night melts away, 

 So blush the skies at birth of day. 

 Tranquil and virgin, vast and still, 

 The sleep of valley and of hill. 



Hark ! from a bough above the rest, 



A sparrow, atremble in throat and breast, 



Hymns, as only a sparrow may, 



The dawning of another day. 



The bough, with dew beads hung along, 



Is vibrant. with the matin song; 



Glad, unconscious, beyond restraint ; 



Of earth, but with no earthly taint, 



There is a rapture in the tone, 



A simple faith quite all its own. 



(Shall aught for vanity amend, 



Or heav'nly fire to Cain descend?) 



In heart I would, and would in words, 

 Praise each new morn — like matin birds ! 

 O could the Here and Now, to me, 

 Severed from past and future be, 

 And what could move to song the boy 

 Be to the man still perfect joy! 



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