HOW still the morning of the hallowed day! Mute is the voice of rural labor, hushed The plowboy's whistle and the milkmaid's song. The scythe lies glittering in the dewy wreath Of tedded grass, mingled with fading flowers, That yestermorn bloomed waving in the breeze; Sounds the most faint attract the ear,—the hum Of early bee, the trickling of the dew, The distant bleating, midway up the hill. Calmness sits throned on you unmoving cloud. To him who wanders o'er the upland leas The blackbird's note comes mellower from the dale; And sweeter from the sky the gladsome lark Warbles his heaven-tuned song; the lulling brook Murmurs more gently down the deep-worn glen; While from yon lowly roof, whose circling smoke O'ermounts the mist, is heard at intervals The voice of psalms, the simple song of praise. With dovelike wings Peace o'er yon village broods; The dizzying mill-wheel rests; the anvil's din Hath ceased; all, all around is quietness. Less fearful on this day, the limping hare Stops, and looks back, and stops, and looks on man, Her deadliest foe. The toil-worn horse, set free, Unheedful of the pasture, roams at large; And as his stiff, unwieldy bulk he rolls, His iron-armed hoofs gleam in the morning ray. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ANDREA DEL SARTO (CALLED THE FAULTLESS PAINTER) by ROBERT BROWNING SONNET by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TO MR. BARBAULD, WITH A MAP OF THE LAND OF MATRIMONY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SUBMARINE BADINAGE by BERTON BRALEY CAELIA: SONNETS: 12 by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) THE CHERUBS; SUGGESTED BY AN APOLOGUE IN THE WORKS OF FRANKLIN by THOMAS CAMPBELL |