Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/217
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THE FURZE.
199
When yellow Autumn decks the plain.
The hawthorn's boughs are green,
Amid the ripening fields of grain,
In emerald brightness seen.
The hawthorn's boughs are green,
Amid the ripening fields of grain,
In emerald brightness seen.
A night of frost, a day of wind,
Have strips the forest bare:
The hawthorn too that blast shall find,
Nor shall that spoiling spare.
Have strips the forest bare:
The hawthorn too that blast shall find,
Nor shall that spoiling spare.
But red with fruit, that hawthorn bough,
Though leafless yet will shine;
The blackbird for its hues shall know,
As lapwing knows the vine.
Though leafless yet will shine;
The blackbird for its hues shall know,
As lapwing knows the vine.
Be thus thy youth as lilies gay,
Thy manhood vigorous green;
And thus let fruit bedeck thy spray,
'Mid age's leafless scene.
Thy manhood vigorous green;
And thus let fruit bedeck thy spray,
'Mid age's leafless scene.
To the Witch Hazel.
Mysterious plant! whose golden tresses wave
With a sad beauty in the dying year.
Blooming amid November's frost severe,
Like the pale corpse-light o'er the recent grave!
If shepherds tell us true, thy wood has power,
With gracious influence, to avert the harm
Of ominous planets, and the fatal charm
Of spirits wandering at the midnight hour;
And thou canst point where buried treasures lie.
But yet to me thou art an emblem high
Of patient virtue, to the Christian given,
Unchanged and bright, when all is dark beside;
Our shield from wild temptations, and our guide
To treasures for the just laid up in heaven.
With a sad beauty in the dying year.
Blooming amid November's frost severe,
Like the pale corpse-light o'er the recent grave!
If shepherds tell us true, thy wood has power,
With gracious influence, to avert the harm
Of ominous planets, and the fatal charm
Of spirits wandering at the midnight hour;
And thou canst point where buried treasures lie.
But yet to me thou art an emblem high
Of patient virtue, to the Christian given,
Unchanged and bright, when all is dark beside;
Our shield from wild temptations, and our guide
To treasures for the just laid up in heaven.
The Furze.
'Mid scattered foliage pale and sere,
Thy kindly floweret cheers the gloom,
And offers to the waning year
The tribute of its golden bloom.
Thy kindly floweret cheers the gloom,
And offers to the waning year
The tribute of its golden bloom.