LXXII.

HYMN FOR SPRING.

"Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." SONG OF SOLOMON II. 11, 12,

I.

We look around upon returning Spring,

Great source of life and beauty! and to Thee Would turn with renovated love, and sing

The goodness that adorns each bush and tree: But cold our hearts, and lifeless is our praise! With sin polluted, we essay in vain

On heavenly wings our earthly thoughts to raise, And chant thy glories in a holier strain.

III.

Would that the scene around us could impart
To us some portion of its living power;
And raise these dying feelings of the heart,
As bursts the bud of spring, and blooms the flower!
Then should the hymn of gratitude ascend,

Pure as the song which seraphim might own, And even from earth should mortal voices blend With theirs who sing for ever round the throne.

IV.

O nature's God, and God of grace, look down!
Thou that canst deck the dry and withered stems
With lovely hues, to which the monarch's crown
Were poor, though glittering with costliest gems,
Look down on us!-shall these proclaim thy praise,
And we be silent? Lord, restore our powers!
And we will sing thy love in heavenly lays-
Till nature's praises shall be poor to ours.

LXXIII.

LOOK AROUND.

I.

ART thou from bitterest sorrows free?

Tried by no dire calamity ?—

Look round upon thy fellow-men

With searching, thoughtful glance-and then,

From earth to heaven uplift thy gaze,

And pour a fervid song of praise.

II.

Amid the homes thou knowest near,
How many where the frequent tear
O'er pain, or want, or wrong, is shed,
Or, haply, over kindred dead!

How few where hopes and joys combine,

Brighter than are-or might be thine!

III.

Thou art not free from every ill :
It were not thy Creator's will:
Nor were it good for thee to be

So sheltered upon earth: the tree

Fenced from the breeze as well as storm,

Is

poor in fruit, and weak in form.

IV.

Where sunbeams play, the winds may blow;
Where smiles can kindle, tears may flow;
And hearts that never missed the ray
That gladdens, scarce could know the day:
The very shadows that enshroud

Tell of a sun above the cloud.

V.

A little while, and thou shalt see

A land from clouds and shadows free ;
A land where weary pilgrims rest,

In light unutterable blest:

'Tis high above this changeful dome;

The seraph's and the good man's home.

LXXIV.

THE MOTHER'S SOLACE.

"Of such is the kingdom of God."-MARK X. 14.

I.

DEEM not, because its race was run

So quickly upon earth,

In vain thy darling little one

Partook of mortal birth.

II.

Nor think, because thy joy is flown,
And changed so soon for sadness,
'Twere better thou hadst never known

A mother's rapturous gladness.