![]() ![]() The like good sense attends their altered lot : Completeness thus designed proves Providence, Not gradual evolution out of chance. Instinct, but reason in a less degree, To structure, purpose, circumstance, conforms Spiders their web, its hive constructs the bee, The lazy bear sleeps through the winter's storms What constitutes its kind is found in each, Throughout the centuries it changes not Should some new clime another habit teach. Screened partially from view, a stately stag, Scanning the fairy scene with pleased amaze Yet with instinctive caution, lest some foe May lurk within the thicket, his keen eye Marks every quivering branch above, below, T' avoid the peril that he cannot fly Assured at last no danger menaced, then With silent steps he ventured up the glen. The morning rays ruddied the jutting crag Where, canopied in leaves, there stood agaze, 4 THE CHARLES RIVER. Since so ordained that all allowed to live, The food they take must be content to give. Or mock the coiled snake that tempts beneath The fox, as crafty, lies in wait for prey That find no terrors in their destined death. From branch to branch the squirrels leap in play. Bask in the sun and then resume their flight. Or, hovering round the mossy brink, alight And in its crystal waters dip the wing. And many birds, of various plumage, sing. But fitting altar to the living God Amid the gardens that His steps have trod. A grateful sense that powers above, divine, This ever-varying loveliness create, Transforms th' illumined groves to fane and shrine For no vain hecatombs to chance or fate. From pleasant dreams the sleeping stream awoke, To view with glad surprise th' enchantment round From off his limbs the drowsy fetters shook, From off his soul, refreshed, the spell that bound. 3 And with the placid pool that slumbers there The vaulted arches all their glories share. Each lofty trunk in radiant splendor stood THE CHARLES RIVER. Then streamed effulgent through primeval wood, The long-drawn aisles in brilliant lustre drest. From out the sea the ruddy disk of morn Aroused from nest and cave each bird and beast Its golden beams illuming first the west. But when again the flush of early dawn Flooded with purple light the brightening east. All soothe to sleep, - kind Nature's lullaby. The guardian stars that pierce the covert high. The rustling leaves, the cooing mates that pair. The fleecy clouds that veil the crescent moon. Brimming the bowl the barring rocks provide, Its gathering waters burst in bold cascade, Or, murmuring down the dell, in music glide. Beneath the arching boughs, in sylvan glade. Till, tired of play, it hides amidst the sedge, Demurely gliding on, a purling brook. ![]() Mid flag and moss now timid shrinks from view, Then bolder leaps in joy from ledge to ledge, Smiles back to heaven its more celestial blue. Begot of dew-drops on a thousand hills, At first a trickle, then a rill, it wells - Its little bed of sand and pebbles fills At every turn its tiny volume swells 2 THE CHARLES RIVER. Perchance coeval with this earliest morn Our stream to youth perennial was born. ![]() The summer sunbeam all its ardor pours, Till form and tint bedeck the turf with flowers Where root can cling, the tree majestic soars. The summer clouds dropped down their quicken- ing showers. TN ancient days, when earth and sky were young, The ocean breeze, from healthy vapors bred, On crumbled rocks its humid treasures flung, And every barren spot with verdure spread. AMORY, AUTHOR OF "life OF GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN," "GOVERNOR JAMES SULLIVAN," " SIEGE OF NEWPORT," ETC.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |