POEMS. 509 



ON THE RAINBOW. . 



" Look upon the Rainbow, and praise him that made it : very beautiful 

 is it in the brightness thereof." Eccles. xliii. 11. 



ON morning or on evening cloud impress'd, 

 Bent in vast curve, the watery meteor shines 

 Delightfully, to the levelPd sun opposed : 

 Lovely refraction ! while the vivid brede 

 In listed colours glows, the* unconscious swain 

 With vacant eye gazes on the divine 

 Phenomenon, gleaming o'er the illumined fields, 

 Or runs to catch the treasures which it sheds. 



Not so the sage, inspired with pious awe ; 

 He hails the federal arch 1 ; and looking up 

 Adores that God, whose fingers form'd this bow 

 Magnificent, compassing heaven about 

 With a resplendent verge, " Thou madest the cloud, 

 Maker Omnipotent, and thou the bow ; 

 And by that covenant graciously hast sworn 

 Never to drown the world again 2 : henceforth, 

 Till time shall be no more, in ceaseless round, 

 Season shall follow season : day to night, 

 Summer to winter, harvest to seed time, 

 Heat shall to cold in regular array 

 Succeed." Heaven-taught, so sang the Hebrew bard 3 . 



1 Gen. ix. 1217. 2 Gen. viii. 22. J Moses. 



