THOMAS GRAY, 1759
(1716-1771)
Far from the sun and summer-gale,
In thy green lap [i.e. Albion’s] was Nature’s darling laid,
What time, where lucid Avon strayed,
To him the mighty mother did unveil
Her awful face: The dauntless child
Stretch’d forth his little arms, and smil’d.
This pencil take (she said) whose colours clear
Richly paint the vernal year: