ARDOR DA Y MANUAL. \ 73 



THE LEAVES. 



LONG ago, when violets were blooming, 

 And the sunbeams said, " Tis merry May," 

 We came, young leaves, to these bowers 



O ! gaily passed the happy hours away. 

 Singing, dancing, waving, glancing, 



Now whisp'ring to the birds sweet things we know, 

 Now leaning from low-bending branches 

 To kiss the tender grasses just below. 



When the storm cloud came, and the daisies 



Lowly bent their dainty heads for fear, 

 We prayed while we sheltered the wild birds, 



*' O ! angry cloud, pray bring no danger here." 

 Now we listen, never moving, 



E'en the grasses' whispering dies away ; 

 Now the thunder crashes above us 



O ! angry cloud, is this your answer, say ? 



Hurrah ! 'tis only pattering raindrops, 



Here and there we nod to greet them from our tree. 

 They are coming now by the millions, 



Ha ! ha ! we'll frolic with them merrily. 

 Dancing, dancing, waving, glancing, 



O ! friendly cloud, we thank you for the rain ; 

 See we're each one covered with jewels, 



Hurrah ! here is the sunshine back again. 



Summer joys, thou art gone ; with the flowers 



That blossomed in our shadows, frail and fair; 

 And we sigh, for our bright hues are fading, 



While autumn's mournful music fills the air. 

 Now we're falling, gently falling, 



Down among the grasses sere and brown, 

 We shall cover the graves of the flowers 



While the paling sun in pity glances down. 



There scattered oft, the earliest of the year 



By hands unseen, are showers of violets found ; 



The redbreast loves to build and warble there, 

 And little footsteps lightly print the ground. 



GRAY'S Elegy. 



This verse was struck out in later editions of the poem by the author, sacri- 

 ficing a beautiful thought to the symmetry of the poem. 



