TO THE RAINBOW.
Loveliest of the meteor train,
Girdle of the summer rain—
Finger of the dews of air,
Glowing vision, fleet as fair;
While the evening shower retires,
Kindle thy unhurting fires,
And among the meadows near,
Thy refulgent pillar rear;
Or amid the dark-blue cloud,
High thine orbed glories shroud;
Or the moisten’d hills between,
Bent in mighty arch be seen;
Through whose sparkling portals wide,
Fiends of storm and darkness ride.
Like Cheerfulness, thou art wont to gaze
Always on the brightest blaze;
Canst from setting suns deduce
Varied gleams and sprightly hues;
And on low’ring gloom imprint
Smiling streaks of gayest tint.
R. Southey, 1774–1850.