Clear frost succeeds; and thro' the blue serene,
For sight too fine, th' ethereal nitre flies:
Killing infectious damps, and the spent air
Storing afresh with elemental life.
Close crowds the shining atmosphere; and binds
Our strengthen'd bodies in its cold embrace,
Constringent; feeds, and animates our blood;
Refines our spirits, thro' the new-strung nerves,
In swifter fallies darting to the brain;
Where sits the soul, intense, collected cool,
Bright as the skies, and as the season keen.
All nature feels the renovating force
Of  only to the thoughtless eye
In desolation seen. The vacant glebe
Draws in, abundant vegetable soul,
And gathers vigour for the coming year.
A strong glow sits on the lively cheek
Of ruddy fire: and luculent along
The purer rivers flow; their sullen deeps,
Amazing, open to the shepherd's gaze,
And murmur hoarser at the fixing frost.