Is it for want of sleep;
Or childish lullabie?
The violet?
Or brought a kisse
From that sweetheart to this?
No, no; this sorrow, shown
By your teares shed,
Would have this lecture read,
"That things of greatest, so of meanest worth,
Conceived with grief are, and with teares brought
BUT when mild Morn, in saffron stole,
First issues from her eastern goal,
Let not my due feet fail to climb Some breezy summit's brow sublime, Whence Nature's universal face Illumined smiles with new-born grace; The misty streams that wind below, With silver-sparkling lustre glow;
The groves and castled cliffs appear Invested all in radiance clear;
O! every village charm beneath!
The smoke that mounts in azure wreath. O beauteous rural interchange! The simple spire, and elmy grange! Content, indulging blissful hours, Whistles o'er the fragrant flowers, And cattle, roused to pasture new, Shake jocund from their sides the dew. 'Tis thou alone, O Summer mild, Canst bid me carol wood-notes wild: Whene'er I view thy genial scenes, Thy waving woods, embroidered greens, What fires within my bosom wake, How glows my mind the reed to take! What charms like thine the muse can call,
With whom 'tis youth and laughter all ; With whom each field's a paradise,
And all the globe a bower of bliss! With thee conversing all the day, I meditate my lightsome lay. These pedant cloisters let me leave, To breathe my votive song at eve
In valleys where mild whispers use,
Of shade and stream to court the muse,
While wandering o'er the brook's dim verge, I hear the stock dove's dying dirge.
NEXT will I sing the valiant falcon's fame; Aërial fights, where no confederate brute Joins in the bloody fray; but bird with bird Jousts in mid air. Lo! at his siege the hern, Upon the bank of some small purling brook, Observant stands to take his scaly prize, Himself another's game. For mark behind The wily falconer creeps: his grazing horse Conceals the treacherous foe, and on his fist Th' unhooded falcon sits: with eager eyes. She meditates her prey, and, in her wild Conceit, already plumes the dying bird. Up springs the hern, redoubling every stroke, Conscious of danger, stretches far away With busy pennons and projected beak,
Piercing th' opponent clouds: the falcon swift Follows at speed, mounts as he mounts, for hope Gives vigor to her wings. Another soon
Strains after to support the bold attack,
Perhaps a third. a third. As in some winding creek,
On proud Iberia's shore, the corsairs sly Lurk waiting to surprise a British sail, Full freighted from Hetruria's friendly ports, Or rich Byzantium; after her they scud, Dashing the spumy waves with equal oars,
And spreading all their shrouds; she makes the
Inviting every gale, nor yet forgets
To clear her deck, and tell th' insulting foe,
In peals of thunder, Britons cannot fear;
So flies the hern pursued, but fighting flies. Warm grows the conflict, every nerve's employed; Now through the yielding element they soar Aspiring high, then sink at once, and rove In trackless mazes through the troubled sky. No rest, no peace. The falcon hovering flies Balanced in air, and confidently bold
Hangs o'er him like a cloud, then aims her blow
Full at his destined head. The watchful hern
Shoots from her like a blazing meteor swift That gilds the night, eludes her talons keen And pointed beak, and gains a length of way. Observe th' attentive crowd; all hearts are fixed On this important war, and pleasing hope. Glows in each breast. The vulgar and the great, Equally happy now, with freedom share The common joy. The shepherd-boy forgets His bleating care; the laboring hind lets fall His grain unsown; in transport lost, he robs Th' expecting furrow, and in wild amaze
The gazing village point their eyes to heaven. Where is the tongue can speak the falconer's cares, "Twixt hopes and fears, as in a tempest tost? His fluttering heart, his varying cheeks confess His inward woe. Now like a wearied stag, That stands at bay, the hern provokes their rage; Close by his languid wing, in downy plumes Covers his fatal beak, and cautious hides The well-dissembled fraud. The falcon darts Like lightning from above, and in her breast Receives the latent death: down plump she falls Bounding from earth, and with her trickling gore Defiles her gaudy plumage. See, alas!
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