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of Nature, and his love is expressed in various
forms in his Rural Lyrics.
" The little bird that made this nest
With its own little beak,
Has taught me more than learning's lore
And gives me what I seek.
; By instinct taught the builder's art
To use with native skill,
It tells me of the wondrous powers
That God's creation fill."
The ^banyan tree under which he reclines makes
him meditate over its growth from a small seed
and
" Gaze, wonder, question why
All this has been."
Such poems have their origin in a deep-rooted
sentiment.
" Mysterious life, at first of nothing born,
What forms adorn
Thee by the Maker's will, what wondrous robes
By beauty worn !"
To this class belongs his Ode to Night which I
consider a very fine poem. The imagery is sug-
gestive, the language felicitous and the sentiment
exalted.
From Nature he easily finds his way to its
Maker, and this is inevitable in the case of a
sensitive, reflective soul. He sees :
" Into the depths of earth and heaven,
Where eyes and reason fail
To trace the movements of a will