[87]

THE

S U G A R - C A N E

BOOK III.

• FROM scenes of deep distress, the heavenly Muse,
• Emerging joyous, claps her dewy wings.
• As when a pilgrim, in the howling waste,
• Hath long time wandered, fearful at each step,
• Of tumbling cliffs, fell serpents, whelming bogs; [5]
• At last, from some lone eminence, descries
• Fair haunts of social life; wide-cultur’d plains,¹
• O’er which glad reapers pour; he chearly sings:
• So she to sprightlier notes her pipe attunes,
• Than e’er these mountains heard; to gratulate, [10]
• With duteous carols, the beginning year.

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