To yellow crowfoot and luxuriant grass,
Gay shearing-time approaches. First, howe'er,
Drive to the double fold, upon the brim
Of a clear river; gently drive the flock,
And plunge them one by one into the flood.
Plunged in the flood, not long the struggler sinks,
With his white flakes, that glisten through the tide ;
The sturdy rustic, in the middle wave
Awaits to seize him rising; one arm bears
His lifted head above the limpid stream,

While the full, clammy fleece the other laves
Around, laborious with repeated toil,

And then resigns him to the sunny bank,

Where, bleating loud, he shakes his dripping locks.

Dver

HAPPY the man who has the town escaped!
To him the whistling trees, the murmuring brooks,
The shining pebbles, preach
Virtue's and wisdom's lore.

The whispering grove a holy temple is
To him, where God draws nigher to his soul;
Each verdant sod a shrine,

Whereby he kneels to Heaven.

The nightingale on him sings slumber down-
The nightingale rewakes him, fluting sweet,
When shines the lovely red

Of morning through the trees.

Then he admires thee in the plain, O God!
In the ascending pomp of dawning day-
Thee in the glorious sun-

The worm-the budding branch.

Where coolness gushes in the waving grass,

Or o'er the flowers, streams, and fountains rests;
Inhales the breath of prime,

The gentle airs of eve.

His straw-deck'd thatch, where doves bask in the sun,
And play and hop, incites to sweeter rest
Than golden halls of state

Or beds of down afford.

To him the plumy-people sporting chirp,
Chatter, and whistle, on his basket perch,
And from his quiet hand

Pick crumbs, or peas, or grains.

Oft wanders he alone, and thinks on death;
And in the village churchyard by the graves
Sits, and beholds the cross-
Death's waving garland there.

The stone beneath the elders, where a text

Of Scripture teaches joyfully to die

And with his scythe stands Death—
An angel, too, with palms.

Happy the man who thus hath 'scaped the town!

Him did an angel bless when he was born

The cradle of the boy

With flowers celestial strew'd.

Holty.