And doming skies, and glory-shedding sun,

And tranquil stars that hung above thy head

Like angels gazing on thy crowded path,

To thee were worthless, and thy soul forsook

The love of beauteous fields, and the blest lore

That man may read in Nature’s book of truth.

Despise not, then, the lazy shepherd boy:

For his account and thine shall be made up,

And evil cherish’d and occasion lost

May cast their load upon thee, while his spirit