Page:The Seasons - Thomson (1791).djvu/122

 Low-bending, be the full pomegranate scorn'd; Nor, creeping thro' the woods, the gelid race Of berries. Oft in humble station dwells Unboastful worth, above fastidious pomp. Witness, thou best Anana, thou the pride Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er The poets imag'd in the golden age: Quick, let me strip thee of thy tufty coat, Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove!

these the prospect varies. Plains immense Lie stretch'd below, interminable meads, And vast savannahs, where the wandering eye, Unfixt, is in a verdant ocean lost. Another Flora there, of bolder hues, And richer sweets, beyond our garden's pride, Plays o'er the fields, and showers with sudden hand Exuberant spring: for oft these valleys shift Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown, And swift to green again, as scorching suns, Or streaming dews and torrent rains, prevail.

these lonely regions, where retir'd, From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells In awful solitude, and nought is seen But the wild herds that own no master's stall, Prodigious rivers roll their fatning seas: On whose luxuriant herbage, half-conceal'd, Like a fall'n cedar, far diffus'd his train, Cas'd in green scales, the crocodile extends. The flood disparts: behold! in plaited mail, Behemoth rears his head. Glanc'd from his side, The darted steel in idle shivers flies: He fearless walks the plain, or seeks the hills; Where,