THE moon, pale majesty of night, retires,
To gild remoter climes with fainter fires:
The shadows fly before the breaking dawn,
Now rise to view each hill and verdant lawn,
Like the sick lamp of life, one parting ray
Each waning star emits, then dies away.
The morning breathes mild fragrance all around,
And kindly dews impearl the flow’ry ground:
Fair streaks of light, the face of heaven o’erspread,
The smiling ether glows with purpled red.
Enliven’d by the sun’s all powerful ray,
Glad nature smiles, and hails returning day.
Each plant his life-renewing spirit meets,
Expands its leaves, and gives forth all its sweets;
Touch’d by his kindly warmth the roses blow.
Increas’d their odour, and more deep their glow.
The velvet lillies milder scents exhale,
And lend their fragrance to the passing gale.
The feather’d choir their artless notes renew,
Wing through the air, or warble on the bough:
Swift o’er the fields the peasant takes his way,
And pleas’d, resumes the labours of the day.
These are thy works, oh, great creator, these
The wonders of thy power earth, air, and seas;
Are thine; thy animating breath sustains
Whate’er creation’s boundless vast contains.