THE TABLES TURNED, AN EVENING SCENE ON THE SAME SUBJECT

                  Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books;
                  Or surely you'll grow double:
                  Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
                  Why all this toil and trouble?

                  The sun, above the mountain's head,
                  A freshening lustre mellow
                  Through all the long green fields has spread,
                  His first sweet evening yellow.

                  Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
                  Come, hear the woodland linnet,
                  How sweet his music! on my life,
                  There's more of wisdom in it.

                  And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
                  He, too, is no mean preacher
                  Come forth into the light of things,
                  Let Nature be your teacher.

                  She has a world of ready wealth,
                  Our minds and hearts to bless —
                  Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
                  Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

                  One impulse from a vernal wood
                  May teach you more of man,
                  Of moral evil and of good,
                  Than all the sages can.

                  Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
                  Our meddling intellect
                  Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things: —
                  We murder to dissect.

                  Enough of Science and of Art;
                  Close up those barren leaves;
                  Come forth, and bring with you a heart
                  That watches and receives.

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