May.
Whilst troublous blow the southern April winds,1
And swallows cross the shining Eastern seas2
Thro’ the clear dawn, and half the setting stars3
Gleam in the West in clustrous companies,4
Thou, with the moon, a sickle gold and wan,5
Thy sweet head garlanded with violet,6
Appearest, in the meadows of the sun,7
Thy locks with Spring rains and fresh odours wet.8
Rich glories break upon the villages,9
The netted honeysuckled gables bloom,10
The cocks crow shrill and cheerful, the white lambs11
Run to the brook within the elm-tree’s gloom.12
The pastures laugh ; the sky above the oaks13
Is roofed with dripping clouds and spaces blue,14
The butterfly, all jewelled with the rain,15
Shines, on the ivy leaves, amid the dew.16
Blithe apparition, whilst the hedges teem17
With sun-like cowslips, and the fields are white18
With myriad daisies, and the weedy lakes19
Unbosom all their lilies to the light ;20
Whilst yet the heifer, smelling of the meads,21
Feeds in her mother’s shadow; and the deer22
Troop from the tangled lowlands of the North23
To pasture in the hilly atmosphere ;24
Give me to wander through the flowering fields25
Or heaths forlorn, or by rivers slow,26
Bedded with yellow sand and pebbles rare,27
And mossy stones above the current’s flow ;28
Where I may catch thy breath, delightful May,29
Blowing upon my forehead; and the breeze30
Steal from the meadows, and the pleasant farms 31
Sweet scents of hay and rural harmonies.32
Season of hope, thou blessed Pentecost33
Of heart and nature, when the summer fires34
Again at sunset flame along the West,35
And birds pipe cheerful, in the forest choirs,36
Companion of the plant-conceiving sun,37
Whilst Spring cold tempers all thy Summer
charm,38
charm,38
Thou turnest from thy brother, April, and rain’st
flowers39
flowers39
Over the white round of thy naked arm.40