Page:Poems Cook.djvu/237

Then, welcome, gentle Waters,
 In the soft, sweet Rain!

Now ye come in incense Dew,
Distilling from the churchyard yew,
Hemlock, rosemary, and rue,
 Odours sweet in evening shade.
Now ye drop into the rose,
Silently to heal and close
 Wounds the rifling bee has made.
Now ye tremble on the spray,
 Just above the nightingale;
While he chants his roundelay,
 Ringing through the moonlit vale.
Now ye rest upon his wing,
Till his constant trillings fling
Your diamond lustres scattering
 Upon the glow-worm's meteor tail.
King Oberon is on his throne
 In the fairy hall of light;
And a merry set of sprites have met
 To dance away the night.
What do they quaff in that revelling hour?
'Tis the Waters caught from the spicy flower;
And reeling away go the elfin crew,
Drunk with the balmy nectar Dew.

 

Waters, broad Waters, how nobly ye swell
Round the huge, coral reef and the nautilus shell!
Glory is shed on your Ocean breast,
Heaving in fury or placid in rest.
Ye live far down in the sparry cave,
Where the sea-boy lies in his amber grave;
Ye braid the dank weed in his hair,
And deck him with jewels pure and rare;
Ye keep the record of where and when
The brave ship sunk with her braver men;

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