Another

I

Pleasing spring again is here;
Trees and fields in bloom appear:
Hark! the birds with artless lays,
Warble their Creator’s praise!
Where, in winter, all was snow,
Now the flow’rs in clusters grow,
And the corn, in green array,
Promises a harvest-day.

II

What a change has taken place!
Emblem of the spring of grace;
How the soul in winter mourns
Till the Lord, the Sun, returns⁠—
Till the Spirit’s gentle rain
Bids the heart revive again;
Then the stone is turn’d to flesh,
And each grace springs forth afresh.

III

Lord, afford a spring to me!
Let me feel like what I see;
Ah! my winter has been long,
Chill’d my hopes and stopp’d my song!
Winter threaten’d to destroy
Faith and love and every joy;
If thy life was in the root,
Still I could not yield the fruit.

IV

Speak, and by thy gracious voice
Make my drooping soul rejoice;
O beloved Saviour haste,
Tell me all the storms are past!
On thy garden deign to smile,
Raise the plants, enrich the soil
Soon thy presence will restore
Life to what seem’d dead before.

V

Lord, I long to be at home,
Where these changes never come,
Where the saints no winter fear,
Where ’tis spring throughout the year:
How unlike this state below!
There the flow’rs unwith’ring blow;
There no chilling blasts annoy;
All is love and bloom and joy.