Informer of the planetary train! Without whose quickening glance their cumbrous orbs Were brute unlovely mass, inert and dead, And not, as now, the green abodes of life-- How many forms of being wait on thee! Inhaling spirit; from the unfetter'd mind, By thee sublim'd, down to the daily race, The mixing myriads of thy setting beam. The vegetable world is also thine, Parent of Seasons! who the pomp precede That waits thy throne, as through thy vast domain, Annual, along the bright ecliptic-road, In world-rejoicing state, it moves sublime. Meantime the expecting nations, circled gay With all the various tribes of foodful earth, Implore thy bounty, or send grateful up A common hymn; while, round thy beaming car, High-seen, the Seasons lead, in sprightly dance Harmonious knit, the rosy-finger'd hours, The zephyrs floating loose, the timely rains, Of bloom ethereal the light-footed dews, And soften'd into joy the surly storms. These, in successive turn, with lavish hand, Shower every beauty, every fragrance shower, Herbs, flowers, and fruits; till, kindling at thy touch, From land to land is flush'd the vernal year. Nor to the surface of enliven'd earth, Graceful with hills and dales, and leafy woods, Her liberal tresses, is thy force confin'd-- But, to the bowel'd cavern darting deep, The mineral kinds confess thy mighty power. Effulgent, hence the veiny marble shines; Hence labor draws his tools; hence burnish'd war Gleams on the day; the nobler works of peace Hence bless mankind; and generous commerce binds The round of nations in a golden chain. The unfruitful rock itself, impregn'd by thee, In dark retirement forms the lucid stone. The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays, Collected light, compact; that, polish'd bright. And all its native lustre let abroad, Dares, as it sparkles on the fair one's breast, With vain ambition emulate her eyes. At thee the ruby lights its deepening glow, And with a waving radiance inward flames. From thee the sapphire, solid ether, takes Its hue cerulean; and, of evening tinct, The purple streaming amethyst is thine. With thy own smile the yellow topaz burns; Nor deeper verdure dyes the robe of Spring, When first she gives it to the southern gale, Than the green emerald shows. But, all combin'd, Thick through the whitening opal play thy beams; Or, flying several from its surface, form A trembling variance of revolving hues, As the site varies in the gazer's hand.