I'OEMS. 



Througli all his maze of melody ; tlie brake, 

 Loud ■with, the blackbird's bolder note, resounds. 



Sooth'd by the genial warmth, the cawing rook 

 Anticipates the spring, selects her mate. 

 Haunts her tall nest-trees, and -with sedulous care 

 Repairs her wicker eyrie, tempest-torn. 



The ploughman inly smiles to see upturn 

 His mellow glebe, best pledge of future crop : 

 "With glee the gardener eyes his smoking beds ; 

 E'en pining sickness feels a short relief 



The happy schoolboy brings transported forth 

 His long-forgotten scourge, and giddy gig : 

 O'er the white paths he whirls the roUing hoop. 

 Or triumphs in the dusty fields of taw. 



Not so the musefal sage : — abroad he walks 

 Contemplative, if haply he may find 

 "What cause controls the tempest's rage, or whence, 

 Amidst the savage season. Winter smiles. 



For days, for weeks, prevails the placid calm. 

 At length some drops prelude a change : the sun 

 "With ray refracted, bursts the parting gloom, 

 "When all the chequer'd sky is one bright glare. 



Mutters the wind at eve ; th' horizon round 

 With angry aspect scowls : down rush the shower:;. 

 And float the deluged paths, and miry fields. 



