Summer looks out! how green and gay
Is earth, how bright her flowers!
'Tis nature's merry holiday,
And these her white-winged hours;
The winter winds are hushed to rest,
And storms, no more revealing
Their terrors, sleep,--on ocean's breast
The wanton breeze is stealing.
Where's now the frost that chained the brook,
And storm that heaved the sea?
The wild wind that the forest shook,
The snow that clad the lea?
Winter! thou'st fled! and men rejoice,
And every bird in tune
Puts forth its little warbling voice,
To welcome laughing June.
Thus when on the benighted one,
A weary wanderer driven,
A castaway, unsought, undone,
First shines the peace of heaven:
When the fair Sun of Righteousness
In splendour, brightly glowing,
Breaks through the sundering storm to bless
That heart, to overflowing--
O where's the tempest that had spent
Its fury on the broken?
For see! the cloud of anguish rent,
Reveals the rainbow token:
Lovely, when wintry storms depart,
Summer's glad smile to see;
Lovelier, when feels my drooping heart,
One look, O God, from thee.
