ONCE more the robin flutes in glee,

On heat returning.

The living juices in the trees

Are shooting in the early leaves,—

The blossoms break,

And lusty nature wide awake

Her pleasant task sits learning.

The fleecy clouds scud o'er the blue,

In sudden glory.

The woods are full of whistling birds,

And nature, in strange mystic words,

That he who lives close to her heart,

Nor spurns her warning,

Shall all life's cunning secrets learn:

The trill of birds, the tress of fern,

The roar of seas,

The music of the wind-swept trees,

The glory of the morning;

Shall learn the noiseless laws of life,

The truths of beauty,

And find that Nature's meanest guise

Is full of wonder and surprise;

That everything

Doth to the surface ever bring

The blessedness of duty.