The Effects of Spring on Nature

See where the winding vale its lavish stores,

Irriguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks

The latent rill, scarce oozing through the grass,

In fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk,

Where the breeze blows from yon extended field

Of blossom'd beans. Arabia cannot boast

A fuller gale of joy, than, liberal, thence

Breathes through the sense, and takes the ravish'd soul.

Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot,

Full of fresh verdure and unnumber'd flowers,

The negligence of nature, wide and wild;

Where, undisguised by mimic art, she spreads

Unbounded beauty to the roving eye.

Here their delicious task the fervent bees,

In swarming millions, tend: around, athwart,

Through the soft air, the busy nations fly,

Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube,

Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul;

And oft, with bolder wing, they soaring dare

The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows,

And yellow load them with the luscious spoil.

At length the finish'd garden to the view

Its vistas opens, and its alleys, green.

Snatch'd through the verdent maze, the buried eye

Distracted wanders; now the bowery walk

Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day

Falls on the lengthen'd gloom, protracted sweeps;

Now meets the bending sky; the river now

Dimpling along, the breezy-ruffled lake.

The forest darkening round, the glittering spire,

Th' ethereal mountain, and the distant main.