And oft he turns his truant eye, And pauses oft, and lingers near; TO A WATERFOWL. WHITHER, midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Vainly the fowler's eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, Thy figure floats along. Seek'st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast- Lone wandering, but not lost. All day thy wings have fanned, At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, 29 And soon that toil shall end; Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend, Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest. Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, GREEN RIVER. WHEN breezes are soft and skies are fair, I steal an hour from study and care, And hie me away to the woodland scene, Yet pure its waters-its shallows are bright With colored pebbles and sparkles of light, And clear the depths where its eddies play, And dimples deepen and whirl away, And the plane-tree's speckled arms o'ershoot Through whose shifting leaves, as you walk the hill, With a sudden flash on the eye is thrown, Like the ray that streams from the diamond-stone. Oh, loveliest there the spring days come, With blossoms, and birds, and wild-bees' hum; The flowers of summer are fairest there, And freshest the breath of the summer air; And sweetest the golden autumn day In silence and sunshine glides away. Yet fair as thou art, thou shunnest to glide, That fairy music I never hear, Nor gaze on those waters so green and clear, And mark them winding away from sight, Though forced to drudge for the dregs of men, And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen. And mingle among the jostling crowd, Where the sons of strife are subtle and loud I often come to this quiet place, To breathe the airs that ruffle thy face, And gaze upon thee in silent dream, For in thy lonely and lovely stream An image of that calm life appears That won my heart in my greener years. A WINTER PIECE. THE time has been that these wild solitudes, Yet beautiful as wild, were trod by me Oftener than now; and when the ills of life Had chafed my spirit—when the unsteady pulse Beat with strange flutterings-I would wander forth And seek the woods. The sunshine on my path |