When now no more the alternate Twins are fir'd, And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze, Short is the doubtful empire of the night; And soon, observant of approaching day, The meek-ey'd morn appears, mother of dews, At first faint-gleaming in the dappled east-- Till far o'er ether spreads the widening glow, And, from before the lustre of her face, White break the clouds away. With quicken'd step, Brown night retires. Young day pours in apace, And opens all the lawny prospect wide. The dripping rock, the mountain's misty top, Swell on the sight, and brighten with the dawn. Blue, through the dusk, the smoking currents shine; And from the bladed field the fearful hare Limps, awkward; while along the forest glade The wild deer trip, and often turning gaze At early passenger. Music awakes, The native voice of undissembled joy, And thick around the woodland hymns arise. Rous'd by the cock, the soon-clad shepherd leaves His mossy cottage, where with peace he dwells; And from the crowded fold, in order, drives His flock, to taste the verdure of the morn. [Illustration: The meek-eyed dawn appears] Falsely luxurious, will not man awake; And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour, To meditation due and sacred song? For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise? To lie in dead oblivion, losing half The fleeting moments of too short a life; Total extinction of the enlighten'd soul! Or else to feverish vanity alive, Wilder'd, and tossing through distemper'd dreams Who would in such a gloomy state remain Longer than nature craves; when every muse And every blooming pleasure wait without, To bless the wildly devious morning-walk? But yonder comes the powerful king of day, Rejoicing in the east. The lessening cloud, The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow Illum'd with fluid gold, his near approach Betoken glad. Lo! now apparent all, Aslant the dew-bright earth, and color'd air, He looks in boundless majesty abroad; And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams, High-gleaming from afar. Prime cheerer, light! Of all material beings first, and best! Efflux divine! Nature's resplendent robe! Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapp'd In unessential gloom; and thou, O sun! Soul of surrounding worlds! in whom best seen Shines out thy Maker! may I sing of thee? 'Tis by thy secret, strong, attractive force, As with a chain indissoluble bound, Thy system rolls entire; from the far bourn Of utmost Saturn, wheeling wide his round Of thirty years, to Mercury, whose disk Can scarce be caught by philosophic eye, Lost in the near effulgence of thy blaze.