 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
AUGURIES OF MAY
Flower upon flower expands:
May reigns in hawthorn lands.
Gone are the saffron daughters of the snow.
Sweet Summer tells her son
The daffodils are done:
Spring takes his mother by the hand to go.
May reigns in hawthorn lands.
Gone are the saffron daughters of the snow.
Sweet Summer tells her son
The daffodils are done:
Spring takes his mother by the hand to go.
353
The sedge wren tells her note,
Dim larks in ether float,
The uprolled clouds sustain their pageant dome.
In velvet, sunshine-fed,
Spires up the bulrush head,
Where rock the wild swans in their reedy home.
Dim larks in ether float,
The uprolled clouds sustain their pageant dome.
In velvet, sunshine-fed,
Spires up the bulrush head,
Where rock the wild swans in their reedy home.
The lily pale and wan
Puts all her glories on:
Her silver mantle and her golden crest.
The humbler violets stand
Her ladies at command,
As she attires in lawn her ivory breast.
Puts all her glories on:
Her silver mantle and her golden crest.
The humbler violets stand
Her ladies at command,
As she attires in lawn her ivory breast.
The bland and balmy rain
Revives the vernal plain.
The vale remurmurs as its kisses burn.
As some fair girl replies
With answering lips and eyes
To greet with love her welcome love's return.
Revives the vernal plain.
The vale remurmurs as its kisses burn.
As some fair girl replies
With answering lips and eyes
To greet with love her welcome love's return.
And on the rippling tide
Sail-crowded galleons ride.
The heron flaps his heavy wings, and cries
Hoarse in the cloudy rack.
The faithful cranes sail back
To some old belfry in Teutonic skies.
Sail-crowded galleons ride.
The heron flaps his heavy wings, and cries
Hoarse in the cloudy rack.
The faithful cranes sail back
To some old belfry in Teutonic skies.
The incense-laden trees
Perfume the vocal breeze,
This to the hurrying bee of honey sings.
And chequered butterflies,
Like beams of orient skies,
Expand the painted rainbows on their wings.
Perfume the vocal breeze,
This to the hurrying bee of honey sings.
And chequered butterflies,
Like beams of orient skies,
Expand the painted rainbows on their wings.
Summer eternal, born
From year to year, as morn
Is born from day to day—reviving glows:
Her breath the scented gale,
Her voice the nightingale,
Her form incarnate in the queenly rose.
From year to year, as morn
Is born from day to day—reviving glows:
Her breath the scented gale,
Her voice the nightingale,
Her form incarnate in the queenly rose.
354
Summer, whose power confessed
Instils each maiden's breast
With such strange yearning as the red buds know:
When in their bosoms sweet
With unaccustomed feet
Love walks among the silence and the snow.
Instils each maiden's breast
With such strange yearning as the red buds know:
When in their bosoms sweet
With unaccustomed feet
Love walks among the silence and the snow.
Summer, who dyes the meek
And happy maiden's cheek,
With the new blushes of her wild wood rose.
Who steeps her lips anew
In Love's ambrosial dew,
And fills her fancy with delicious woes.
And happy maiden's cheek,
With the new blushes of her wild wood rose.
Who steeps her lips anew
In Love's ambrosial dew,
And fills her fancy with delicious woes.
In old days far away,
In sacrifice to May,
Their crisp white lambs the sullen Flamens brought.
Grim Pontiffs in a ring
For auguries of spring
In flight of bird or bleeding victim sought.
In sacrifice to May,
Their crisp white lambs the sullen Flamens brought.
Grim Pontiffs in a ring
For auguries of spring
In flight of bird or bleeding victim sought.
We need no chanted prayer
To tell us May is there,
A risen Venus from the wintry brine:
Whose sacrifice is still
Each gentle maiden's will,
And in the lover's veins her altar wine.
To tell us May is there,
A risen Venus from the wintry brine:
Whose sacrifice is still
Each gentle maiden's will,
And in the lover's veins her altar wine.
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |