Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/309

 A SUMMER'S DAY 299

��THE MORNING, NOON, AND NIGHT OF A SUM- MER'S DAY.

MORNING,

Fair is the face of morn, When, from his watch retreating, the day-star Quenches his lamp, and echoing hounds and horn

Ring o'er the hills afar !

Still sleeps the cloudy fold Whose fleecy flocks o'er all the hills lie spread. When, scarce concealed behind her veil of gold,

Aurora leaves her bed ;

But when, with saffron locks. From his cold bath upsprings the god of day, All drenched in showers of light, the frightened flocks

Scatter in mists away.

Now, like a spark of fire. His wheel above the plain begins to rise ; And now the flames, his chariot mounting higher,

Illumine all the skies.

Redden each rocky steep, Spill down each slope, and fill with golden fire The glen, the gorge, steal through the forest deep,

And wake each feathered choir.

Nor beauteous less, in days When drifting fogs obscure the morn awhile. And when, in mellow gleams, the silvery haze

Is softened to a smile.

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