THE FOUNTAIN. FOUNTAIN, that springest on this grassy slope, That shines on mountain blossom. Thus doth God This tangled thicket on the bank above Thy basin, how thy waters keep it green! For thou dost feed the roots of the wild vine That trails all over it, and to the twigs Ties fast her clusters. There the spice-bush lifts Her leafy lances; the viburnum there, Paler of foliage, to the sun holds up Her circlet of green berries. In and out THE FOUNTAIN. 317 The chipping sparrow, in her coat of brown, Not such thou wert of yore, ere yet the axe And silken-winged insects of the sky. Frail wood-plants clustered round thy edge in Spring. The liverleaf put forth her sister blooms Of faintest blue. Here the quick-footed wolf, Of sanguinaria, from whose brittle stem The red drops fell like blood. The deer, too, left In such a sultry summer noon as this, Stopped at thy stream, and drank, and leaped across. But thou hast histories that stir the heart With deeper feeling; They rise before me. while I look on thee I behold the scene With solemn rites of blessing and of prayer, The door is opened; hark! that quick glad cry ; Carlo has waked, has waked, and is at play; The little sisters laugh and leap, and try To climb the bed on which the infant lay. And there he sits alone, and gayly shakes In his full hands, the blossoms red and white, And smiles with winking eyes, like one who wakes From long deep slumbers at the morning light. THE WINDS. When in the genial breeze, the breath of God, Come spouting up the unsealed springs to light; 325 THE OLD MAN'S COUNSEL. AMONG Our hills and valleys, I have known Wise and grave men, who, while their diligent hands. Tended or gathered in the fruits of earth, Were reverent learners in the solemn school Of nature. Not in vain to them were sent Seed-time and harvest, or the vernal shower That darkened the brown tilth, or snow that beat On the white winter hills. Each brought, in turn, Some truth, some lesson on the life of man, Or recognition of the Eternal mind Who veils his glory with the elements. One such I knew long since, a white-haired man, Pithy of speech, and merry when he would; From what he saw his quaint moralities. |