'Tis done! dread WINTER spreads his latest glooms, And reigns tremendous o'er the conquer'd How dead the vegetable kingdom lies! years, Thy flowering Spring, thy Summer's ardent strength, Thy sober Autumn fading into age, 1040 And pale concluding Winter comes at last, And shuts the scene. Ah! whither now are fled, Those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes Of happiness? those longings after fame? 1045 Those restless cares? those busy bustling days? Those gay-spend, festive nights? those veering thoughts, 1050 Lost between good and ill, that shar'd thy life? For ever free. The great eternal scheme, 1055 Involving all, and in a perfect whole now, 1060 In palaces, lay straining her low thought, truth, And moderation fair, wore, the red marks 1070 The storms of WINTRY TIME will quickly pass, And one unbounded SPRING encircle all. HYMN. THESE. as they change, as they change, ALMIGHTY FATHER, these, Are but the varied GOD. The rolling year Is full of thee. Forth in the pleasing Spring THY beauty walks, THY tenderness and love, Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm; 5 Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles; And every sense, and every heart is joy. Then comes THY glory in the Summer months, With light and heat refulgent. Then THY ་ sun Shoots full perfection thro' the swelling year: 10 And oft THY voice in dreadful thunder speaks; And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales. THY bounty shines in Autumn unconfin'd, And spreads a common feast for all that lives. 15 In Winter awful ТHou! with clouds and storms Around THEE thrown, tempest o'er tempest roll'd, Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing, Riding sublime, THOU hidst the world adore, And humblest Nature with THY northern blast. 20 MYSTERIOUS round! what skill, what Deep-felt, in these appear! a simple train, Man marks not THEE, marks not the mighty hand, That, ever-busy, wheels the silent spheres; 30 Works in the secret deep; shoots, steaming, thence The fair profusion that o'erspreads the Spring: Flings from the sun direct the flaming day; Feeds every creature; hurls the tempest forth; And, as on earth this grateful, change revolves, 35 With transport touches all the springs of life, NATURE, attend! join every living soul, Beneath the spacious temple of the sky, In adoration join; and, ardent, raise One general song! To Him, ye vocal gales, 40 Breathe soft, whose SPIRIT in your freshness breathes; Oh, talk of HIM in solitary glooms! Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar, 45 Who shake th' astonish'd world, lift high to hea en Th impetuous song, and say from whom you rage. His praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills; And let me catch it as I muse along. Ye headlong torrents, rapid, and profound; 50 voice Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall. 55 Soft-roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, In mingled clouds to Him; whose sun exalts, paints. Ye forest bend, ye harvests wave, to HIM; 65 From world to world, the vital ocean round, 70 1 |