TO A HUMMING-BIRD. BY H. W. ROCKWELL.

Bright stranger from the South! who with the cool Light airs of Summer visitest the sweet Soft twilight that o'erspreads the shaded pool, And the young river-flowers that faint with heat: Welcome art thou to the cold North again, With thy dark glossy hood, and emerald wings; And pleasant be thy way along the glen, Where the brown wood-thrush in the thicket sings, Or where to prostrate trees the nodding wild flower clings.

Thy silver beak, which late from Southern flowers Sipped God's good bounty, here, where green leaves meet And shed their coolness through the long sweet hours Of the bright noontide, shalt find blooms as sweet; The juicy clover in the meadow-grass Shall give thee honey from its crimson cells, And thou shalt take, where curling eddies pass, Thy supper in the dewy mountain-bells, When the meek evening-wind amid the forest swells.

Waters shall catch thine image; thy green wings Fanning with music the sweet forest airs, Shall bear thee where the reddening wood-rose springs Amid the moss and sunshine. Thou shalt fare Upon the glossy seeds when they are ripe On their long stems, beside the streamlet's bed, And on thy scarlet jacket thou shalt wipe Thy shining bill when thou hast freely fed Upon the river-plum and mountain-cherry red.

Welcome thou art unto my lattice; here In safety thou may'st smooth thy velvet hood, And sip the summer-sweets without a fear, With the sweet winds thy gentle sisterhood. Ay! thou art welcome; nor would I in vain Take lesson from thine own meek history; But when the hazy summer comes again To these wide woods, may'st thou no stranger be Among those friends which are my best society.