March o'er the twins her stormy wing expands,
And fills with violets sweet their infant hands;
They sooth the Year, on her tempestuous way,
Spite of her bleak blue cheek, and kirtle grey.
Young April laughs to see her Crab recede,
Then wets with peevish tears the glistering mead;
Soon, cheer'd again, on high her bow she bends;
On the moist grass one lucid horn descends.
With joy as wayward, she salutes the year,
Placing a crystal crown upon her hair;
With flowers and watry sun-beams wreathes it round,
Then strikes it soil'd and darken'd, to the ground.
Patient our timid Traveller deplores
The wild caprice of April's veering hours;
Now, 'mid soft gales, throws back her wintry vest,
Now, in the rude storm, folds it o'er her breast;
Turns the soft eye of Hope on lively May,
Serene of smile, nor smiling to betray.
May, like celestial Una, mild and fair,
Her Lion leads thro' roseate climes of air;
In chains of hyacinth content to stray,
He neither roars, nor rages on his way.
The blue-ey'd month her gladden'd Mistress greets,
And calls the vales to yield their bosom'd'sweets;
Bids morning clouds with orient tinges glow,
Each clear brook warble, and each zephyr blow;
Each silver'd hedge, each arbour, newly blown,
And blossom'd fruit-tree, smile upon the sun;
From their green centre, while the plumy throng
Pour the wild music of the woodland song.
June meets the Virgin with triumphant air,
Each the gay handmaid of the passing Year;
Charm'd they survey her, 'mid the zephyrs bland,
Bright and consummate, on the zenith stand.
She views on earth's warın fields, the rustics blithe,
Sweep thro' the shivering grass the gleamy scythe;
Stout maids th' exhaling treasure shake around,
And ringing wains, yet empty, beat the ground.
Now heap'd, thro' lanes, she sees them nodding slow,
Scattering their fragrant litter as they go.
So pass the hours of long-protracted light
Till glimmering falls the scarcely curtain❜d night.
· And now the Year, first with descending pace,
Slow down the Zodiac comes with smiling grace.
July the yet unfaded beauty hails,
And weighs her various gifts in golden scales.
Luxuriant roses his moist temples shield
From beams that smite the hill, and parch the field;
Thro' the hush'd grove the lazy breezes sigh,
And half the river's pebbly bed is dry.
The glowing Year glides on, and to her clime
Lo! zoneless August gives the golden time!
Threads, indolent of step, th' etherial bound,
And hears beneath the reaper's shout resound;
Observes bright sheaves, like troops of dancers, stand
On hills, and laughing fields, and crown the land;
Sees full fruits redden in the sultry ray,
Peer thro' the leaves, and bend the loaded spray.
She bids her Scorpion hear the reapers sing,
Sheath the fierce claw, nor dart the venom'd sting;
But, from the waning dog-star, oft he sheds
On stagnant pools, thick groves, and arid meads,
The deadly virus, whence disease prevails,
Steams from the loitering floods, and breathless dales.
With plenty cloy'd the swart Month saunters on,
And of the Sirian influence fearful grown,
Scarce marks her mistress' path descending slope,
And leaves obeisance to the months of hope.
SEPTEMBER IN SAGITARIUS.
With looks that speak an apprehensive heart,
The Year perceives her summer joys depart,
Tho' mild September by her archer stands,
Bearing his arrows in her gentle hands;
Or decks with wheaten ears her bended bow,
While horn and hound the welkin rend below.
OCTOBER IN CAPRICORN.
Now tann'd October and his Goat, appear,
And down the Zodiac lead the faded Year.
Her pensive eyes his dusky hand behold
Paint with fleck'd purple and with tarnish'd gold
His rustling leaves, ere yet they drop, or sail,
Slow circling, on the damp and mournful gale.
NOVEMBER IN AQUARIUS.
November, entering, bids Aquarius bear
His winds, and weltering rains thro' gloomy air;
Chill, with dense fogs, the cheerless, tardy morn,
Wrap soon-invading night in pall forlorn,
And till December, and his train appear,
Pour the loud urn on the expiring Year.
He comes-his deadly signals round her rise,
The naked branches, and the sunless skies;
Holds in his livid hands, a scaly pair,
Voiceless and dull, the types of her despair.
'Mid snows, that shroud the hard and ridgy land,
Stern, by his side, see blasting Silence stand;
Stretch widely her petrific wand, of force
To arrest the floods upon their eddying course !—
The Year beholds, and with the last dismay,
Her wither'd honours, and exhausted sway.
Mute all her streams!—no sound,—no motion cheers,
Each naked forest stands a pile of spears!
And now, amid the wreck of all she gave,
Shuddering she sinks in the oblivious grave.
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