ODE X. (Lo! SPRING array'd in primrose-colour'd robe)

Lo! SPRING array'd in primrose-colour'd robe, Fresh beauties sheds on each enliven'd scene, With show'rs and sunshine chears the smiling globe, And mantles hill and vale in glowing green.

All nature feels her vital heat around, The pregnant glebe now bursts with foodful grain, With kindly warmth she opes the frozen ground, And with new life informs the teeming plain.

She calls the fishes from their ouzy beds, And animates the deep with genial love, She bids the herds bound sportive o'er the meads, And with glad songs awakes the joyous grove.

No more the glaring tiger roams for prey, All-powerful Love subdues his savage soul, To find his spotted mate he darts away, While gentler thoughts the thirst of blood controul.

But ah! while all is warmth and soft desire, While all around SPRING'S chearful influence own, You feel not, AMORET, her quickening fire, To SPRING'S kind heat of all a foe alone!