WINTER AND SPRING.
"ADIEU!" Father Winter sadly said To the world, when about withdrawing, With his old white wig half off his head, And his icicle fingers thawing.
"Adieu! I am going to the rocks and caves, And must leave all here behind me; Or, perhaps I shall sink in the Northern waves, So deep that none can find me."
"Good luck! good luck, to your hoary locks!" Said the gay young Spring, advancing; "You may take your rest mid the caves and rocks, While I o'er the earth am dancing.
"But there is not a spot where your foot has trod, You hard, and clumsy old fellow, Not a hill, nor a field, nor a single sod, But I must make haste to mellow.
"And then I shall carpet them o'er with grass, Which will look so bright and cheering, That none will regret that they let you pass Far out of sight and of hearing.
"The fountains that you locked up so tight, When I shall give them a sunning,