 | Poems at Home and Abroad |  |
39
March—Summer
There is no day in all the year
To weary mortals given,
When God's sweet mercy seems so near
And earth so sure of Heaven,
To weary mortals given,
When God's sweet mercy seems so near
And earth so sure of Heaven,
As when, in middle March, we wake
To find Spring's promise true,
And summer falls, on lawn and lake,
Full-made from out the blue.
To find Spring's promise true,
And summer falls, on lawn and lake,
Full-made from out the blue.
But yester-eve Helvellyn lay
Beneath a shroud of snow;
Helvellyn, dappled white to-day,
His tawny skin doth show.
Beneath a shroud of snow;
Helvellyn, dappled white to-day,
His tawny skin doth show.
No wreath of winter now is seen
On Grisedale's lilac ledge,
The Derwent-vale regains its green
And purple grows the hedge.
On Grisedale's lilac ledge,
The Derwent-vale regains its green
And purple grows the hedge.
40
The trout are leaping in the pool,
The rooks are calling loud,
The little lad scarce gets to school
So thick the daisies crowd.
The rooks are calling loud,
The little lad scarce gets to school
So thick the daisies crowd.
The daffodil re-makes his spear,
And laughs the celandine,
While, floating far, and glinting near
The spider shoots his line.
And laughs the celandine,
While, floating far, and glinting near
The spider shoots his line.
Now starry-wide the crocuses
Are flaming in the grass,
And, gathering gold, the happy bees
Make music as we pass.
Are flaming in the grass,
And, gathering gold, the happy bees
Make music as we pass.
Lambs bleat, and either side the lane
New voices fill the air,
The cuckoo soon will come again,
The thrush sings everywhere.
New voices fill the air,
The cuckoo soon will come again,
The thrush sings everywhere.
The fleecy charges of the dale
Look, yearning to the heights,
Forth from the crag the ravens sail,
His love the buzzard plights.
Look, yearning to the heights,
Forth from the crag the ravens sail,
His love the buzzard plights.
The frolic wind, from out the south,
Sets hazel flowers asway,
Kisses the yew with merry mouth,
And blows its dust away.
Sets hazel flowers asway,
Kisses the yew with merry mouth,
And blows its dust away.
41
All amber-tinted, lo! the larch
Is gleaming to the sun,
The birches, at the call of March,
Have felt the red blood run.
Is gleaming to the sun,
The birches, at the call of March,
Have felt the red blood run.
And now the golden-hearted west
Scores Wanthwaite Brow with shade,
And, lingering high on Latrigg's breast,
The day is loth to fade.
Scores Wanthwaite Brow with shade,
And, lingering high on Latrigg's breast,
The day is loth to fade.
But ere the blackbird cease from song
And robin ends his hymn,
The leaders of the starry throng
From out the sunset swim.
And robin ends his hymn,
The leaders of the starry throng
From out the sunset swim.
Jove's planet burns in crystal air,
The dog-star twinkles bright,
The summer day of March was fair,
But fairer still the night.
The dog-star twinkles bright,
The summer day of March was fair,
But fairer still the night.
| Poems at Home and Abroad | |