Page:The Seasons - Thomson (1791).djvu/88

 O'er rocks, and woods, and craggy mountains flies; And, neighing, on the aërial summit takes Th' exciting gale; then, steep-descending, cleaves The headlong torrents foaming down the hills, Even where the madness of the straiten'd stream Turns in black eddies round: such is the force With which his frantic heart and sinews swell.

undelighted, by the boundless spring, Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep: From the deep ooze, and gelid cavern rous'd, They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. Dire were the strain, and dissonant, to sing The cruel raptures of the savage kind: How by this flame their native wrath sublim'd, They roam, amid the fury of their heart, The far-resounding waste in fiercer bands, And growl their horrid loves. But this the theme I sing, enraptur'd, to the , Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow, Where fits the shepherd on the grassy turf, Inhaling, healthful, the descending sun. Around him feeds his many-bleating flock, Of various cadence; and his sportive lambs, This way and that convolv'd, in friskful glee, Their frolicks play. And now the sprightly race Invites them forth; when swift, the signal given, They start away, and sweep the massy mound That runs around the hill; the rampart once Of iron war, in ancient barbarous times, When disunited ever bled, Lost in eternal broil: ere yet she grew To this deep-laid indissoluble state, Where Wealth and Commerce lift their golden heads; And,