’TWIXT DAYBREAK AND DAYLIGHT.

The glint and glimmer of the daybreak shows In the fast-reddening east; the sable clouds With roseate streaks and golden threads are lined; And the first early cock, awakening, rings His shrill clear challenge on the breaking morn! A voiceless stir of many murmurings, From woodland, hill, and dale, and meadow, tells The flight of slumber: now the cricket chirps Amid the barley, and the skylark plumes His wing for early rising; passes by The milkmaid to the pasture; and the farm Grows noisy with the many-varied sounds Of rustic labour, telling that hath fled The drowsy sweet forgetfulness of night! Shadows of dreamland pass from earth away Into the mystic world of things unseen; The stern necessities of daily life Again their round commence, as, one by one, Toilers awaken to the coming day!