"Breathe, gentle AIR! from cherub-lips impart Thy balmy influence to my anguish'd heart; 325 Thou, whose soft voice calls forth the tender blooms, Whose pencil paints them, and whose breath perfumes; O chase the Fiend of Frost, with leaden mace Who seals in death-like sleep my hapless race; Melt his hard heart, release his iron hand, 330 And give my ivory petals to expand. So may each bud, that decks the brow of spring, Shed all its incense on thy wafting wing!"-- To her fond prayer propitious Zephyr yields, Sweeps on his sliding shell through azure fields, 335 O'er her fair mansion waves his whispering wand, And gives her ivory petals to expand; Gives with new life her filial train to rise, And hail with kindling smiles the genial skies. So shines the Nymph in beauty's blushing pride, 340 When Zephyr wafts her deep calash aside; Tears with rude kiss her bosom's gauzy veil, And flings the fluttering kerchief to the gale. So bright, the folding canopy undrawn, Glides the gilt Landau o'er the velvet lawn, 345 Of beaux and belles displays the glittering throng; And soft airs fan them, as they roll along. Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow O'er Conway, listening to the surge below; Retiring LICHEN climbs the topmost stone, 350 And 'mid the airy ocean dwells alone.-- Bright shine the stars unnumber'd _o'er her head_, And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed; While round the rifted rocks hoarse whirlwinds breathe, And dark with thunder sail the clouds _beneath_.-- 355 The steepy path her plighted swain pursues, And tracks her light step o'er th' imprinted dews, Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze, Winds round the craggs, and lights the mazy ways; [_Lichen_. l. 349. Calcareum. Liver-wort. Clandestine Marriage. This plant is the first that vegetates on naked rocks, covering them with a kind of tapestry, and draws its nourishment perhaps chiefly from the air; after it perishes, earth enough is left for other mosses to root themselves; and after some ages a soil is produced sufficient for the growth of more succulent and large vegetables. In this manner perhaps the whole earth has been gradually covered with vegetation, after it was raised out of the primeval ocean by subterraneous fires.] Sheds o'er their _secret_ vows his influence chaste, 360 And decks with roses the admiring waste.