The rising sun had crowned the hills, And added beauty to the plain; O grand and wondrous spectacle! That only nature could explain. I stood within a leafy grove, And gazed around in blissful awe; The sky appeared one mass of blue, That seemed to spread from sea to shore. Far as the human eye could see, Were stretched the fields of waving corn. Soft on my ear the warbling birds Were heralding the birth of morn. While here and there a cottage quaint Seemed to repose in quiet ease Amid the tre