As in your unwearying course ye fly
Beneath the clear and unclouded sky;
Oh! may we, without delay, like you,
The path of duty and right pursue.

Sweet Birds, that breathe the spirit of song,
And surround Heaven's gate in melodious throng,
Who rise with the earliest beams of day,

Your morning tribute of thanks to pay,

You remind us that we should likewise raise

The voice of devotion and song of praise;
There's something about you that points on high,
Ye beautiful tenants of earth and sky!

XIII.

YOUTH.

YOUTH is the vision of a morn,
That flies the coming day;
It is the blossom on the thorn
Which rude winds sweep away.

It is the image of the sky,
In glassy waters seen,

When not a cloud appears to fly

Across the blue serene.

D

But when the waves begin to roar,
And lift their foaming head,

The mimic stars appear no more,
And all the heaven is fled.

'Tis fleeting as the passing rays Of bright electric fire,

That gild the pole with sudden blaze, And in that blaze expire.

It is the morning's gentle gale,

That, as it softly blows,

Scarce seems to sigh across the vale, Or bend the blushing rose.

But soon the gath'ring tempests pour, And all the sky deform;

The gale becomes a whirlwind's roar, The sigh a raging storm.

For Care and Sorrow's morbid gloom,
And heart-corroding strife,-
And sickness pointing to the tomb,
Await the noon of life.

XIV.

THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL, AND THE GRASS-
HOPPER'S FEAST,

COME take up your hats, and away let us haste
To the Butterfly's ball and the Grasshopper's feast:
The trumpeter Gad-fly has summon'd the crew,
And the revels are now only waiting for you.

On the smooth-shaven grass, by the side of a wood, Beneath a broad oak, which for ages had stood, See the children of earth, and the tenants of air, To an ev'ning's amusement together repair!

And there came the Beetle, so blind and so black, Who carried the Emmet, his friend, on his back; And there came the Gnat and the Dragon-fly too, And all their relations, green, orange, and blue.

And there came the Moth, with her plumage of down,

And the Hornet, with jacket of yellow and brown, Who with him the Wasp his companion did bring, But they promised, that ev'ning, to lay by their sting.

Then the sly little Dormouse peep'd out of his hole, And led to the feast his blind cousin the Mole; And the Snail, with her horns peeping out of her shell,

Came, fatigued with the distance, the length of an ell.

A Mushroom the table, and on it was spread
A water-dock leaf, which their table-cloth made,
The viands were various, to each of their taste,
And the Bee brought the honey to sweeten the
feast.

With steps more majestic the Snail did advance, And he promised the gazers a minuet to dance; But they all laugh'd so loud, that he drew in his head,

And went, in his own little chamber, to bed.

Then, as ev'ning gave way to the shadows of night, Their watchman, the Glow-worm, came out with

his light.

So home let us hasten, while yet we can see;

For no watchman is waiting for you or for me!

XV.

TO A FRIEND.

INQUIRING IF I WOULD LIVE OVER MY YOUTH AGAIN.

Do I regret the past?

Would I again live o'er
The morning hours of life?

Nay, William! nay, not so!
In the warm joyance of the summer sun
I do not wish again

The changeful April day.
Nay, William! nay, not so!
Safe haven'd from the sea,
I would not tempt again

The uncertain ocean's wrath.

Praise be to Him who made me what I am,
Other I would not be.

Why is it pleasant then to sit and talk
Of days that are no more?

When in his own dear home
The traveller rests at last,

And tells how often in his wanderings
The thought of those far off
Hath made his eyes o'erflow
With no unmanly tears;