The bosom wells with joy serene
While viewing all the lovely scene,
The spirit soars on airy wings
Above all sublunary things. 
I peer into the depths profound
Of the cerulean around,
And ether’s far-off heights I scan,
As if, to feeble finite man,
The power of vision here were given
To view the battlements of heaven. 
But, though I gaze and gaze intent,
Close scanning all the firmament,
No Mount of Vision unto me
Does this bold summit prove to be. 
Though in elysian wrapt the while,
Where sublimated thoughts beguile,
Icarian pinions, all too frail,
Were sure my fancy’s flight to fail. 
Confined within this mortal clod,
Vain man would yet ascend to God,
Presumptuous, as of yore, to be
The heir of immortality. 
But, from those fair, celestial heights
Of fervid fancy’s loftiest flights,
My airy visions topple down
To where cool reason’s realm is found,
And fancy folds her weary wings,
Content, the while, with earthly things.

PROGRESS.

    “Man hath sought out many inventions.”

The planets, forced by Nature’s law,
  Within their orbits ceaseless roll,
And man the lesson thence may draw—­
  By industry to reach his goal.

Hail! industry’s all-conquering might! 
  Hail! engineering’s giant skill! 
That clambers up the mountain height,
  And intervening valleys fill.

The enterprise of man shall know
  No bounds upon this mundane sphere,
Whate’er his hands may find to do
  He executes with skill and care.

His genius Nature’s self subdues,
  And all her powers subservient lie
At his command, and pleas’d he views
  His great resources multiply.

He mines the earth and skims the air,
  He plows the main, descends the deep,
And through its silent chambers there,
  Electric forces flash and leap.

He flies, upon the wings of steam,
  Mounts up with aerostatic pow’r,
He paints with every solar beam—­
  Unfolds new wonders ev’ry hour!

Not in material things alone
  Does Progress mark its high career,
Fair science builds her regal throne,
  And morals her triumphal car.

Man stands erect—­his image fair
  In God’s own likeness first was cast,
His high prerogatives appear,
  He seeks his destiny at last.

Upward and onward is his course,
  In mental and in moral life,
With higher purpose, now, perforce,
  With loftier aspirations rife.

In matters both of Church and State,
  A high ambition spurs him on,
With buoyancy and hope elate,
  He plies his task till it be done.

WINTER.

    Written in the month of January, the ground covered with snow.

’Tis winter, drear winter, and cold the winds blow,
The ground is all cover’d with ice and with snow,
The trees are all gemm’d with a crystalline sheen,
No birdling or blossom are now to be seen.