SONNETS. I. ON SEEING A SNOW-WREATH ON MAY-DAY, 1827. MAY-DAY, all hail! to poets ever dear! When Fancy lulls them in some pastoral dream, Thou art a pleasant, fair, and fruitful theme; The rich and fairy robes they make thee wear, Glow in the graces of the blooming year; With flowing locks of hyacinthine hue, Lips breathing odours, wet with pearly dew, And flowery wreaths of summer's loveliest prime : Not such as thou art oft in Scotia seen, Though, haply, these thy charms in softer clime; Where winter's livery had so lately been : 2 Then shake that snow-wreath from thy lap, and rise, The harbinger of flowery fields and sunbright skies! II. THE SAME. THOUGH sad thy face, dear May! I fain would hail, And welcome thee to vernal fields again; For sweet thy smile upon the primrose pale, Thy breath from budding birch, or dimwood glen: With gentle zephyrs fan the daisied vale; And whisper softly on the blossomed thorn, Where Love delights, at eve, to tell his tale, And sparkling dew-drops gem the lap of morn, Like orient pearls strewed on the springing corn; Light up thy sunbeams, shed thy genial showers, Expand the swelling buds and blushing flowers; While rural melody, on echoes borne, Floats on the breezy hill, or shady grove, And, mingling sweetly wild, resounds the lays of love. III. TO THE SWALLOW, PREPARING TO EMIGRATE. AND canst thou leave my hospitable dome, Didst patient hatch and fondly nurse thy young? I saw thee swiftly shoot across the sky, And sport where Summer wanton'd in her prime ; She smiles no more,-thou plum'st thy wings to fly, And seek for shelter in a milder clime. Ungrateful bird!-have I not been thy friend? With watchful eye from every foe defend? Nor cat nor climbing boy could thee molest. So summer friends, when clouds begin to lower, Forsake us in the storm of chill Misfortune's hour. M |