Farmers’s Boy.
 

____________________________________________

From Spring

____________________________________________

O come blest Spirit! whatsoe’er thou art

Thou rushing warmth that hover round my heart

Sweet inmate hail,! thou source of sterling joy

That Poverty itself cannot destroy

Be thou my Muse, and faithful still to me 5

Retrace the paths of wild obscurity

No deeds of arms my lowly tale rehearse

No Alpine wonders thunder through my verse

The roaring Cataract, the snow-top’d hill,

Inspiring awe till breath itself stands still 10

Nature’s sublimer scenes ne’er charm’d mine eyes

Nor Science led me through the boundless skies

From meaner objects far my raptures flow

O point those raptures, bid my bosom glow

And lead my Soul to extacies of praise 15

For all the blessings of my infant days

Bear me through regions where gay Fancy dwells

But mould to truth’s fair form what mem’ry tells.

Live trifling incidents and grace my song

That to the humblest menial belong 20

To him whose drudgery unheeded goes

His joys unrecon’d as his cares or woes

Though joys and cares in every path are sown

And youthful minds have feelings of their own

Quick springing sorrows trancient as the dew 25

Delights from trifles, trifles ever new.

Twas thus with Giles, meek, fatherless, and poor

Labour his portion, but he felt no more

No stripes, no tyrany, his steps persue’d

His life was constant chearful servitude 30

Strange to the world he wore a bashful look

The Fields his study, Nature was his book,

And as revolving seasons changd the scene

From heat to cold, tempestuous to serene

Though every change still varied his employ 35

Yet each new duty brought its share of joy.

Where Noble Grafton spreads his rich domains

Round Euston’s water’d Vale and sloping plains

Where Woods and Groves in solemn grandure rise

Where the kite brooding unmolested flies 40

The Woodcock and the painted Pheasant race

And skulking Foxes destin’d for the chace

There Giles untaught and unrepining stray’d

Through every Copse and Grove and winding glade

There his first thoughts to Nature’s charms inclin’d 45

That stamps devotion on th’ enquiring mind.

A little Farm his generous Master tilld

Who with peculiar grace his station fill’d

By deeds of hospitality endear’d

Serve’d from affection, for his worth rever’d, 50

A happy offspring blest his plenteous board

His fields were fruitful and his Barns well stor’d

And fourscore Ewes he fed, a sturdy team,

And lowing Kine that grazed beside the stream

Unceasing industry he kept in view 55

And never lack’d a job for Giles to do.

____________________________________________

From Winter.

____________________________________________

With kindred pleasures moved, and cares opprest,

Sharing alike our weariness and rest

Who lives the daily partner of our hours

Through every change of heat, and frost, and show’ers;

Partakes our chearful meals, or burns with thirst 5

In mutual labour, and in mutual trust,

The kindly intercourse will ever prove

A bond of amity and social love.

To more than man this generous warmth extends

And oft the team and shive’ring herd befriends 10

Tender solicitude the bosom fills

And pity executes what reason wills:

Youth learns compassion’s tale from every tongue

And flies to aid the helpless and the young;

When now unsparing as the scourge of war 15

Blasts follow blasts, and groves dissmantled roar

Around their home dependant Cattle low

No nourishment in frozen pastures grow

Yet frozen pastures every morn resound

With fair abundance thundring to the ground. 20

For though on hoary twigs no buds peep out

And e’en the hardy Bramble ceace to sprout

Beneath dread Winter’s level sheets of snow

The sweet nutritious Turnip deigns to grow,

Till now imperious want and wide-spread darth 25

Bid labour claim her treasures from the earth.

On Giles, and such as Giles the labour falls

To strew the frequent load where hunger calls.

On driving gales sharp hail indignant flies

Or sleet more irksome still asails his eyes 30

Snow clogs his feet, or if no snow is seen

The field with all its juicy store to screen

Deep goes the frost, ’till every root is found

A rolling mass of ice upon the ground.

No tender ewe can break her nightly fast 35

Nor heifer strong begin the cold repast

Till Giles with pond’rous beetle foremost go

And scat’ring splinters fly at every blow;

When pressing round him eager for the prize

From their mix’d breath warm exhalations rise 40