14
THE FARM AND
Marches the stately order of the skies. 275
Earth mounts tow'rd Scythia and Riphæan crest,
Tow'rd Southern Libya falls away depress'd,
This pole for ever towers above our head,
That lies below the Styx and nether dead.
Here the great Serpent draws his lithesome fold,
And, like a river, wends his path of gold, 281
Betwixt and round the sister Bears to glide,
(The Bears that shrink abash'd from ocean's tide.)
But broodeth there the hush of timeless night
For ever, and thick darkness veils the sight; 285
Or else fair morning, on her radiant way,
From us returning, leadeth back the day:
When fresh upon us pants her early team,
There rosy Hesper lights his cresset beam.
The seasons hence and weather we foreknow,
The time of harvest and the time to sow; 291
And when most safe and pleasant it may be
To skim with oars the smoothly treacherous sea,
To launch our fleet with all its tackle fine,
And topple down mature the greenwood pine; 295
Nor idly note the stars that set and rise,
And earth's four seasons balanced in the skies.
When cold and wet make prisoner of the hind,
Earth mounts tow'rd Scythia and Riphæan crest,
Tow'rd Southern Libya falls away depress'd,
This pole for ever towers above our head,
That lies below the Styx and nether dead.
Here the great Serpent draws his lithesome fold,
And, like a river, wends his path of gold, 281
Betwixt and round the sister Bears to glide,
(The Bears that shrink abash'd from ocean's tide.)
But broodeth there the hush of timeless night
For ever, and thick darkness veils the sight; 285
Or else fair morning, on her radiant way,
From us returning, leadeth back the day:
When fresh upon us pants her early team,
There rosy Hesper lights his cresset beam.
The seasons hence and weather we foreknow,
The time of harvest and the time to sow; 291
And when most safe and pleasant it may be
To skim with oars the smoothly treacherous sea,
To launch our fleet with all its tackle fine,
And topple down mature the greenwood pine; 295
Nor idly note the stars that set and rise,
And earth's four seasons balanced in the skies.
When cold and wet make prisoner of the hind,
