Volume Iii Part 12 (1/2)
Thus, then, live I, Till, 'mid all the gloom, By heaven! the bold sun Is with me in the room s.h.i.+ning, s.h.i.+ning!
Then the clouds part, Swallows soaring between; The spring is alive, And the meadows are green!
I jump up, like mad, Break the old pipe in twain, And away to the meadows, The meadows again!
Edward Fitzgerald [1809-1883]
THE SPRING
When wintry weather's all a-done, An' brooks do sparkle in the zun, An' naisy-builden rooks do vlee Wi' sticks toward their elem tree; When birds do zing, an' we can zee Upon the boughs the buds o' spring,-- Then I'm as happy as a king, A-vield wi' health an' zunsheen.
Vor then the cowlsip's hangen flower A-wetted in the zunny shower, Do grow wi' vi'lets, sweet o' smell, Bezide the wood-screened graegle's bell; Where drushes' aggs, wi' sky-blue sh.e.l.l, Do lie in mossy nest among The thorns, while they do zing their zong At evenen in the zunsheen.
An' G.o.d do meake his win' to blow An' rain to vall vor high an' low, An' bid his mornen zun to rise Vor all alike, an' groun' an' skies Ha' colors vor the poor man's eyes: An' in our trials He is near, To hear our mwoan an' zee our tear, An' turn our clouds to zunsheen.
An' many times when I do vind Things all goo wrong, an' v'ok unkind, To zee the happy veeden herds, An' hear the zingen o' the birds, Do soothe my sorrow mwore than words; Vor I do zee that 'tis our sin Do meake woone's soul so dark 'ithin, When G.o.d would gi'e woone zunsheen.
William Barnes [1801-1886]
”WHEN SPRING COMES BACK TO ENGLAND”
When Spring comes back to England And crowns her brows with May, Round the merry moonlit world She goes the greenwood way: She throws a rose to Italy, A fleur-de-lys to France; But round her regal morris-ring The seas of England dance.
When Spring comes back to England And dons her robe of green, There's many a nation garlanded But England is the Queen; She's Queen, she's Queen of all the world Beneath the laughing sky, For the nations go a-Maying When they hear the New Year cry--
”Come over the water to England, My old love, my new love, Come over the water to England, In showers of flowery rain; Come over the water to England, April, my true love; And tell the heart of England The Spring is here again!”
Alfred Noyes [1880-
NEW LIFE
Spring comes laughing down the valley All in white, from the snow Where the winter's armies rally Loth to go.
Beauty white her garments shower On the world where they pa.s.s,-- Hawthorn hedges, trees in flower, Daisies in the gra.s.s.
Tremulous with longings dim, Thickets by the river's rim Have begun to dream of green.
Every tree is loud with birds.
Bourgeon, heart,--do thy part!
Raise a slender stalk of words From a root unseen.
Amelia Josephine Burr [1878-
”OVER THE WINTRY THRESHOLD”