University of Virginia Library


52

VITA NUOVA.

Now is the time once more
Dear and desired of old,
Spring at the sill, at the door,
Slender and young and cold.
Scarcely the heart can hold
The peace long waited for.
Now the magical word is told,
And the young Spring's at the door.
When all the folk are asleep,
Save only the feathered folk,
She goes by the hills of sheep,
By the lambs and the grazing flock,
Flowers in the fold of her cloak,
And the grey dawn at the peep,
The trumpeter Daffodil woke
The thrush and blackbird asleep.
Now in the East and the dark
The heart trembles and sings,
Sings with the linnet and lark
New songs of immortal things.
It wakes, it quivers, it springs,
O heart, that was Winter stark,
It rises, it beats, it has wings,
When the Spring calls in the dark.