| |
| I SAW the woods and fields at close of day | |
| A variegated show; the meadows green, | |
| Though faded; and the lands, where lately waved | |
| The golden harvest, of a mellow brown, | |
| Upturned so lately by the forceful share: | 5 |
| I saw far off the weedy fallows smile | |
| With verdure not unprofitable, grazed | |
| By flocks, fast feeding, and selecting each | |
| His favourite herb; while all the leafless groves | |
| That skirt the horizon, wore a sable hue, | 10 |
| Scarce noticed in the kindred dusk of eve. | |
| To-morrow brings a change, a total change! | |
| Which even now, though silently performed | |
| And slowly, and by most unfelt, the face | |
| Of universal nature undergoes. | 15 |
| Fast falls a fleecy shower: the downy flakes | |
| Descending, and, with never-ceasing lapse, | |
| Softly alighting upon all below, | |
| Assimilate all objects. Earth receives | |
| Gladly the thickening mantle, and the green | 20 |
| And tender blade that feared the chilling blast | |
| Escapes unhurt beneath so warm a veil. | |
| In such a world, so thorny, and where none | |
| Finds happiness unblighted, or, if found, | |
| Without some thistly sorrow at its side, | 25 |
| It seems the part of wisdom, and no sin | |
| Against the law of love, to measure lots | |
| With less distinguished than ourselves, that thus | |
| We may with patience bear our moderate ills, | |
| And sympathise with others, suffering more. | 30 |
| Ill fares the traveller now, and he that stalks | |
| In ponderous boots beside his reeking team. | |
| The wain goes heavily, impeded sore | |
| By congregated loads adhering close | |
| To the clogged wheels; and in its sluggish pace | 35 |
| Noiseless appears a moving hill of snow. | |
| The toiling steeds expand the nostril wide, | |
| While every breath, by respiration strong | |
| Forced downward, is consolidated soon | |
| Upon their jutting chests. He, formed to bear | 40 |
| The pelting brunt of the tempestuous night, | |
| With half-shut eyes and puckered cheeks, and teeth | |
| Presented bare against the storm, plods on. | |
| One hand secures his hat, save when with both | |
| He brandishes his pliant length of whip, | 45 |
| Resounding oft, and never heard in vain. | |
| O happy! and in my account, denied | |
| That sensibility of pain with which | |
| Refinement is endued, thrice happy thou. | |
| Thy frame, robust and hardy, feels indeed | 50 |
| The piercing cold, but feels it unimpaired. | |
| The learnèd finger never need explore | |
| Thy vigorous pulse; and the unhealthful east, | |
| That breathes the spleen, and searches every bone | |
| Of the infirm, is wholesome air to thee. | 55 |
| Thy days roll on exempt from household care; | |
| The waggon is thy wife; and the poor beasts | |
| That drag the dull companion to and fro, | |
| Thine helpless charge, dependent on thy care. | |
| Ah, treat them kindly! rude as thou appearest, | 60 |
| Yet show that thou hast mercy, which the great, | |
| With needless hurry whirled from place to place, | |
| Humane as they would seem, not always show. | |
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