And, stretching to the covert, wing their way; When sportful coots run skimming o'er the strand; When watchful herons leave their watery stand, And, mounting upward with erected flight, Gain on the skies, and soar above the sight. And oft, before tempestuous winds arise, The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies, And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night With sweeping glories, and long trails of light; And chaff with eddy-winds is whirled around, And dancing leaves are lifted from the ground; And floating feathers on the waters play. But, when the winged thunder takes his way From the cold north, and east and west engage, And at their frontiers meet with equal rage, The clouds are crushed; a glut of gathered rain } The hollow ditches fills, and floats the plain; } And sailors furl their dropping sheets amain. } Wet weather seldom hurts the most unwise; So plain the signs, such prophets are the skies. The wary crane foresees it first, and sails Above the storm, and leaves the lowly vales; The cow looks up, and from afar can find The change of heaven, and snuffs it in the wind; The swallow skims the river's watery face; The frogs renew the croaks of their loquacious race; The careful ant her secret cell forsakes, And drags her eggs along the narrow tracks: At either horn the rainbow drinks the flood; } Huge flocks of rising rooks forsake their food, } And, crying, seek the shelter of the wood. } Besides, the several sorts of watery fowls, That swim the seas, or haunt the standing pools, The swans that sail along the silver flood, And dive with stretching necks to search their food, Then lave their backs with sprinkling dews in vain, And stem the stream to meet the promised rain. The crow with clamorous cries the shower demands, And single stalks along the desert sands. The nightly virgin, while her wheel she plies, Foresees the storm impending in the skies, When sparkling lamps their sputtering light advance, And in the sockets oily bubbles dance. Then, after showers, 'tis easy to descry Returning suns, and a serener sky: The stars shine smarter; and the moon adorns, As with unborrowed beams, her sharpened horns. The filmy gossamer now flits no more, Nor halcyons bask on the short sunny shore: Their litter is not tossed by sows unclean; But a blue droughty mist descends upon the plain; And owls, that mark the setting sun, declare A star-light evening, and a morning fair. Towering aloft, avenging Nisus flies, While, dared, below the guilty Scylla lies. Wherever frighted Scylla flies away, Swift Nisus follows, and pursues his prey: Where injured Nisus takes his airy course, Thence trembling Scylla flies, and shuns his force. This punishment pursues the unhappy maid, And thus the purple hair is dearly paid: