Orellana and Other Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Spring came to-day! and glad were we
As very children in our glee.
The sun shone forth with blinding flame,
And from the west a soft wind came:
The west! Nay, sister, rather say
It blew from boyhood's happy day!
It brought with it the village old
Wherein was passed our age of gold,
And I, a happy-hearted scholar
With jacket short and broad white collar,
Frisked with my classmates in the street:
—Ay me! how fast the seasons fleet!

Spring came to-day! Our minstrel, mute
No longer, tuned and tried his flute;

172

Puss in the window-corner heard,
Looked cageward, closed her eyes, and purred;
And outside in the open air
Sparrows shot whirring here and there;
And one old ragged meagre rook
Who, feeling beauish, rashly took
A sunward voyage, venturing high
Was buffeted about the sky.

Spring came to-day: she called us out
With a right cheery country shout.
We spied her through the blackthorn hedge,
We saw her in the lakeside sedge,
We traced her footsteps o'er the hill,
We chased her down the rippling rill,
We lost her in a miry lane,
But in Craiglockhart copse again
We sought the merry gipsy, chiding,
And caught her in a hollow hiding.

Spring came to-day: the hawthorn buds,
The crystal of the Pentland floods,

173

The sword-like sedges by the lake,
The red-tipt branches in the brake,
The thin clean braird of new-year's grass,
Gowans that open as you pass
—Their wide-awake fresh fearless eyes
Glowering surprised at your surprise—
And balmy airs, and skies of blue
Convince you that the news is true.

We tarried as the sun went down
On yon high hill besouth the town,
But fairest view, of all we spied,
The gardened homes of Morningside.
The ploughman half a field away
Rested his horses on the brae,
Leaned o'er his plough, and on the air
Came pattle-raspings of the share;
Then overglanced the furrows drawn
By his stout greys and him since dawn,
Took snuff, clicked with his cheek and tongue,
Shook the plough-line and snooved along!

174

How sweet it was to see a star
Born in the heavenly blue afar!
To mark the slowly waning light,
The coy approach of veilèd Night;
To see domestic lights appear
In villa windows far and near;
And hear upon our homeward way
The children singing at their play,
Their fresh young voices rising sweet
Out of the dim suburban street!

Spring came to-day: let's dedicate
The evening hours to celebrate
Her joyous advent, sister mine!
—And first, a glass of generous wine;
Then fruit; and strew the room with flowers
To dull the footfall of the hours;
And you will sing when I am mute,
And I will choose a tale to suit
The sweet occasion—What You Will
Or As You Like It: Shakespeare still

175

For every season has a say
A mood for every man;
And so we'll mark Spring came To-day
As well as ever we can!