 | Imaginary Sonnets |  |
95
LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD TO THE SPRING OF NINETY-EIGHT.
(1798.)
A green victorious standard is unfurled:
The bright green levies come; they come, they come,
With fife of birds and martial insect hum,
As, bud by bud, the Spring invades the world;
The bright green levies come; they come, they come,
With fife of birds and martial insect hum,
As, bud by bud, the Spring invades the world;
And every furry creature that lay curled
Between the roots of trees, asleep and numb,
Joins Nature's insurrectionary drum,
And tyrant Winter from his throne is hurled.
Between the roots of trees, asleep and numb,
Joins Nature's insurrectionary drum,
And tyrant Winter from his throne is hurled.
Thy bright green standard, O victorious Spring,
More fortunate than mine, is waving high
On every bough where thrush and linnet sing;
More fortunate than mine, is waving high
On every bough where thrush and linnet sing;
Nature is uttering her triumphal cry;
Fresh life is meted to each living thing,—
Save in the prisons, where the death-doomed lie.
Fresh life is meted to each living thing,—
Save in the prisons, where the death-doomed lie.
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