The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-26 00:00:00

SONNETS ON THE M ONTHS.
BY E. E. NI. K.

(From the Iductraied London- Armi' attack for 1852.)
JANUARY.

Spirit of storms and melancholy hours,
Stern January! must we front thy rage,
And at thy beck prepare our choicest flowersTo feed thy graveyards, and. thy wrath t' assuage!
Through driving snows and sleety rains we hear
His coming—spoiler of our homes! 'T is one
To him, the golden locks, or these the young revere
Pauper or prince, so be the deed but done!
Seer-like, unmoved, and with an aspect drear,
In frosted garments stiffening through the. night,
He views the pageant of the early bier,
Or cheerless mutters with the stars in sight!
Morn from her lattice strews dark blossoms now,*
Day comts in tears, and eve with troubled brow.
* The " rosemary" flowers in January, and is dedicated to
" the dead."

FEBRUARY.
Pillowel on cl,-:uds that rbine pliosphoric 'round,
Lo! Fekuary pale thought-wraps appears,
Like some proud youth whose sleeping fancies bound
With dull forebodings, all " the future" wears.
Anon young Hope renewing life bestows,
Fans his c,,!cl temples, plants the infant rose;
With magic finger melts ti e frozen sky
To showery rainbows, a: whose lucent fall
Spring. bowers prepare their greenling tracery,
And snow-drops bold the virgin festival.
Lund from ilin farm bold chanticleer is heard,
Sof: at our window sings the sacred bird;
While hill-tops, crown') wi►h now and shrouding mists
At ruddy dawn are tipped with amethyst:. •

MA RCE.
.Born by rueo gusts, and roiling saud,i aloft,
DlAtch tips the noou; loo,ed in grief, full oft
The winds or roar in thunders hv;
Yonder the iureEt at the sound inclines-
It-, hoary heughs, that with the inovert-,,nt shed
Jewcir; 'and, see: amidst them shines
(Cht-, daring crcetts, with detiant head,.
Silvet'd with snow, ytt opening to the sity,
Stratte are his alt-A:ds: for new 't is splendour en,
Now sullen gloom, now cArt, now pregnant shade,
Sunshine and storm; now wakes the waterfall,
Now Im-uplift ts fL)w, and now in icy are stay'd.

Yet, budding out, despite rsch tickle hour,
Green tints. the bilr,k, and promise shapes the flower.

APL IL.
April returns; her blue voluptuous eye,
Now steeped in light, now charged with sudden kars.
Potent as spells enchantress' arts apply.
La! at her beck each sapling bloom appears;
Violets whose breath the curious winds endow
Lavish with sweets; anemones; and, more,
Those cups profuse, like drops of gold that blow,
The gaudy wort and yellow hellebore.
Now waters lift their silvery arms, to greet
The green moss thickening rich in noonday sun;
Pastures and lawns and wood-nymphs quaint retreat,
Kindling with sprouts, by thousand dews are spun.
From clasping earth sweet herbs and grasses rise,
Load the fresh gale, and mix congenial sighs.

MAY.
Sweet May is ours! the fresh sun-mantled May,
Blushing and spotless as a bride should be,
With all her lily train of handmaids. See!
Now finger-link'd they come, where smiles the day
In rosy warmth! The modest iris, pure
And dazzling as the dawn of early love;
1),21e hyacinths, whose honied lips insure
Caresses frequent as those sighs to allure
They breath© o'erpowering en the gales above.
Nor aught forgotten setks the bridal queen
Her showering Diphne, jonquils, or the fair
Snow-hillocks of virginia-stock, whose sheen
Her pathway lights; while earth, and sky, and air,
Rejoicing, each a nuptial aspect wear.

JUNE.
Reeking with spice, by handmaid gales distill'd,
What time the heats in solar conclave meet,
Bright June arrives—her earliest task fulfill'd,
The Earth, rose-clad, lies blushing at her feet.
To gilded fruits the milky germ gives place;
She breathes, and forth spontaneous 'mong the boughs
A pageant burns reflected from her face;
While all the land a kindling bloom endows.
Pendent the bell; and where fresh waters leap,
Her rainbow-colour'd stars gay Flora open:
On scorching heaths the unctuous vipers creep;
Below, sweet smell the wo/ds and new-mown slopes,
And now, while glades with cushut songs invite,
Summer exults in all her warm delight.

JULY.
'Mid beams and rains alternate flashing now,
July, the ripe, luxuriant month, we hail!—
Queen of the season, by each jewell'd bough
That yields for her its riches to the gale:
Cherries the sweetest, currants crystal red,
Or moon-light hued, or ebon black display'd.
We know her come by all the tokens spread:—
The swelling apple, and the fig tree's shade;
By poppies burning 'midst the fields of grain;
The fox-glove's purple, and the pale wan flower
That smiles unto the stars, and shuts again
Ere morn; and by the gold of noontide hour;
By all the rids that tinkled songs to May;
And now for flowers can scarce ace night from day!

AUGUST.
'Tis mellow August, crown'd with blushing fruits:
The tawny apricot, the damson's gloom;
While pods droop seed-full—while the mushroom shoots,
And corn• flags glitter through the harvest's bloom.
'Tis merry August, that, with gipsy grace,
In gipsy garments, and with wanton face,
Goes laughing by. Ay! follow, old and young,
Into the woods, and hear her charmed tonguo
Lisping light music through the gloaming grey,
Till eve's rich hour, when ruddy sunbeams roll:
Now by dun mosses, where the harebells play;
Now where sound flies, like some enfranchised soul,
Through forest aisles; or seek her list'ning there
The clamorous martins cloud the glowing sir.