SUNRISE

The clouds are withdrawn

And their thin-rippled mist,

That stream'd o'er the lawn

To the drowsy-eyed west.

Cold and grey

They slept in the way,

And shrank from the ray

Of the chariot East:

But now they are gone,

And the bounding light

Leaps thro’ the bars

Of doubtful dawn;

Blinding the stars,

And blessing the sight;

Shedding delight

On all below;

Glimmering fields,

And wakening wealds,

And rising lark,

And meadows dark,

And idle rills,

And labouring mills,

And far-distant hills

Of the fawn and the doe.

The sun is cheered

And his path is cleared,

As he steps to the air

From his emerald cave,

His heel in the wave,

Most bright and bare;

In the tide of the sky

His radiant hair

From his temples fair

Blown back on high;

As forward he bends,

And upward ascends,

Timely and true,

To the breast of the blue;

His warm red lips

Kissing the dew,

Which sweetened drips

On his flower cupholders;

Every hue

From his gleaming shoulders

Shining anew

With colour sky-born,

As it washes and dips

In the pride of the morn.

Robes of azure,

Fringed with amber,

Fold upon fold

Of purple and gold,

Vine-leaf bloom,

And the grape's ripe gloom,

When season deep

In noontide leisure,

With clustering heap

The tendrils clamber

Full in the face

Of his hot embrace,

Fill'd with the gleams

Of his firmest beams.

Autumn flushes,

Roseate blushes,

Vermeil tinges,

Violet fringes,

Every hue

Of his flower cupholders,

O'er the clear ether

Mingled together,

Shining anew

From his gleaming shoulders!

Circling about

In a coronal rout,

And floating behind,

The way of the wind,

As forward he bends,

And upward ascends,

Timely and true,

To the breast of the blue.

His bright neck curved,

His clear limbs nerved,

Diamond keen

On his front serene,

While each white arm strains

To the racing reins,

As plunging, eyes flashing,

Dripping, and dashing,

His steeds triple grown

Rear up to his throne,

Ruffling the rest

Of the sea's blue breast,

From his flooding, flaming crimson crest!