26 SELECT POETRY

His feathers o’er, now let them fall ;
And then straightway sleek' them too.
Now my faithful bird is gone;
Oh! let mournful turtles* join
With loving red-breasts, and combine
To sing dirges o’er his stone !
Cartwright.

 

THE LATE SPRING,

Tue sleepy Spring was still in bed,
And to rise was slowly preparing,

When she heard the soft fall of the zephyr’s® tread,
Who came to give her an airing.

She rose in haste, not dressed in blue,
But clad in her wintry mourning ;—

Just stuck in her bosom a snow-drop or two,
Her brow a faint smile adorning.

Then away over meadow, and garden, and wood,
Her light-winged courser bore her ;

But in her fair eyes the tear-drop stood,
To see the drear scene before her.

So long had the tyrant of northern birth
His iron reign extended,

The genial commerce of sky and earth
Had well nigh been suspended.

' Sleek—make smooth.

* Turtles—turtle-doves,

3 Zephyr—the west wind—any warm, soft wind,
$ Tyrant of northern birth— winter.

§ Genial commerce—agreeable intercourse.