

ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



MAY. 



WHEN apple-trees in blossom are, 

 And cherries of a silken white; 

 And king-cups deck the meadows fair; 



And daffodils in brooks delight; 

 When golden wall-flowers bloom around, 

 And purple violets scent the ground, 

 And lilac 'gins to show her bloom, 

 We then may say the May is come. 



When happy shepherds tell their tale 



Under the tender leafy tre; 

 And all adown the grassy vale 



The mocking cuckoo chanteth free; 

 And Philomel, with liquid throat, 

 Doth pour the welcome, warbling note, 

 That had been all the winter dumb, 

 We then may say the May is come. 



When fishes leap in silver stream. 



And tender corn is springing high, 

 And banks are warm with sunny beam, 



And twittering swallows cleave the sky, 

 And forest bees are humming near, 

 And cowslips in boys' hats appear, 

 And maids do wear the meadow's bloom, 

 We then may say the May is come. 



CLARKE. 



EARLY SPRING. 



TH<E hawthorn whitens, and the juicy groves 

 Put forth their buds unfolding by degrees, 

 Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed, 

 In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales ; 

 Where the deer rustle through the twining brake, 

 And the birds sing concealed. At once, arrayed 

 In all the colors of the flushing year, 

 By Nature's swift and secret-working hand, 

 The garden glows, and fills the liberal air 

 With lavish fragrance : while the promised fruit 

 Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived, 

 Within its crimson folds. Now from the town, 

 Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noisome damps, 

 Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields, 

 Where freshness breathes, and dash the trembling drops 

 From the bent bush as through the verdant maze 

 Of sweet-brier hedges I pursue my walk ; 

 Or taste the smell of dairy : or ascend 

 Some eminence, Augusta, in thy plains, 

 And see the country far diffused around, 

 One boundless blush, one white-empurpled shower 

 Of mingled blossoms, where the raptured eye 

 Hurries from joy to joy. 



THOMSOX. 



