In summer showers, that scarcely fill the folds

Of moss-couched violets, or interrupt

The merle’s dulcet pipe—melodious bird!

He hid behind the milk-white sloe-thorn spray,

(Whose early flowers anticipate the leaf,)

Welcomes the time of buds, the infant year.

Sweet is the sunny nook to which my steps

Have brought me, hardly conscious where I roamed,

Unheeding where—so lovely all around,

The works of God arrayed in vernal smile.