 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
289
THE AUTUMN OF THE SPRING.
I saw at morn the locks your hands
Last summer crowned with ill-earned bay,
And marked a silver thread, and looked
Another way.
Last summer crowned with ill-earned bay,
And marked a silver thread, and looked
Another way.
Amid the woods to-day I saw
An unloved sight till then unseen—
A golden bough, a crimson leaf,
Among leaves green.
An unloved sight till then unseen—
A golden bough, a crimson leaf,
Among leaves green.
When first we roamed those woods, the lark
Chanted to God her cherub song;
To his fond mate the uxorious thrush
Sang low, and long.
Chanted to God her cherub song;
To his fond mate the uxorious thrush
Sang low, and long.
The wood-dove murmured to herself
Of restful Truth and Joy love-won:
The cuckoo's note dissolved in heaven,
Like snow in sun.
Of restful Truth and Joy love-won:
The cuckoo's note dissolved in heaven,
Like snow in sun.
And all the birds in lawns rock-girt
And all the birds in sylvan cells
Blew loud their jewelled flutes and chimed
Their silver bells.
And all the birds in sylvan cells
Blew loud their jewelled flutes and chimed
Their silver bells.
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But ah! to-day upon the bough
I saw the wintry redbreast stand;
Like mourner's ring he seemed on some
New-plighted hand.
I saw the wintry redbreast stand;
Like mourner's ring he seemed on some
New-plighted hand.
His head he tossed, and twittered shrill
As one who cared not what he sung:
The pine-tree's fallen cone I snatched,
And at him flung.
As one who cared not what he sung:
The pine-tree's fallen cone I snatched,
And at him flung.
Soothe thou the winter! but thy note
Troubles, not cheers, the autumnal glen:
Off, bird! nor shake the unsteady hearts
Of maids and men!
Troubles, not cheers, the autumnal glen:
Off, bird! nor shake the unsteady hearts
Of maids and men!
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |