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Bees described.

The meteor sits; and shows the narrow path,

That winding leads through pits of death, or else
Instructs him how to take the dangerous ford.

1160

The lengthened night elaps'd, the morning shines Serene, in all her dewy beauty bright; Unfolding fair the last autumnal day.'

1165

And now the mounting sun dispels the fog;
The rigid hoar-frost melts before his beam;

And hung on every spray, on every blade

Of grass, the myriad dew-drops twinkle round.

Ah see where robb'd, and murder'd, in that pit 1170 Lies the still heaving hive! at evening snatch'd, Beneath the cloud of guilt-concealing night, And fix'd o'er sulphur: while, not dreaming ill,

The happy people, in their waxen cells,

Sat tending public cares, and planning schemes 1175

Of temperance, for Winter poor; rejoic'd

To mark, full flowing round, their copious stores.
Sudden the dark oppressive steam ascends;

And, us'd to milder scents, the tender race,

By thousands, tumble from their honeyed domes, 1180 Convolv'd, and agonizing in the dust.

And was it then for this you roam'd the Spring,

Bees described.

Intent from fower to flower; for this you toil'd
Ceaseless the burning Summer-heats away?

For this in Autumn search'd the blooming waste, 1185
Nor lost one sunny gleam, for this sad fate?
O Man! tyrannic lord! how long, how long,
Shall prostrate Nature groan beneath your rage,
Awaiting renovation? When oblig'd,

Must you destroy? Of their ambrosial food

1190

Can you not borrow; and, in just return,
Afford them shelter from the wintry winds?
Or, as the sharp year pinches, with their own
Again regale them on some smiling day?

See where the stony bottom of their town

1195

Looks desolate, and wild; with here and there

A helpless number, who the ruin'd state

Survive, lamenting weak, cast out to death.

Thus a proud city, populous and rich,

Full of the works of peace, and high in joy,

1200

At theatre or feast, or sunk in sleep,

(As late, Palermo, was thy fate) is seiz'd

By some dread earthquake; and convulsive hurl'd

Sheer from the black foundation, stench-involv'd,
Into a gulph of blue sulphureous flame.

1205

A Country Life described.

and high;

Hence every harsher sight! for now the day,
O'er heaven and earth diffus'd, grows warm,
Infinite splendour! wide investing all.

How still the breeze! save what the filmy thread
Of dew evaporate brushes from the plain.
How clear the cloudless sky! how deeply ting'd
With a peculiar blue! the ethereal arch
How swell'd immense! amid whose azure thron'd
The radiant sun how gay! how calm below
The gilded earth! the harvest-treasures all
Now gather'd in, beyond the rage of storms,
Sure to the swain; the circling fence shut up;
And instant Winter's utmost rage defy'd.

While, loose to festive joy, the country round

Laughs with the loud sincerity of mirth,

1210

1215

1220

Shook to the wind their cares. The toil-strung youth,

By the quick sense of music taught alone,
Leaps wildly graceful in the lively dance.

Her every charm abroad, the village-toast,
Young, buxom, warm, in native beauty rich,
Darts not-unmeaning looks; and, where her eye
Points an approving smile, with double force

The cudgel rattles, and the wrestler twines.

1225

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