The hum of bees, the linnet’s lay of love,

And the full choir that wakes the universal grove

The cottage curs at early pilgrim bark;

Crown’d with her pail the tripping milk-maid sings;

The whistling plowman stalks afield; and hark!

Down the rough slope the ponderous wagon rings;

Through rustling corn the hare, astonish’d, springs;

Slow tolls the village clock the drowsy hour—

The partridge bursts away on whirring wings;

Deep mourns the turtle in sequester’d bower,