Spring.
Come back, O Spring of Earth !1
Come back, thou long-lost Spring !2
We long for the light of love and mirth3
That airs of April bring ;4
We long for the soft moss-rose,5
For a fresh green on the leaves,6
For the sunny bank where the daffodil blows,7
And the swallow in the eaves ;8
We are tired of the Winter’s gloom,9
Of the snow-flake cold and pale ;10
And we long for the orchard’s crown of bloom,11
And the song of the nightingale.12
Come back, O Spring of Youth !13
Come back to the hoary head ;14
We long for the light of joy and truth,15
And the hopes that are long since dead ;16
We long for the brooding wings17
Of those blue eternal skies18
That gilded the dullest and meanest things19
With the glory of Paradise.20
We are tired of the ceaseless beat21
Of waves on a weary shore,22
Of the clash of tongues and the tramp of feet,23
And the heart too dull to soar ;24
And we long (in vain) for the sunlight sweet25
That is vanished for evermore.26
Come back, O Spring of Love !27
Come back to the heart grown cold ;28
We long for the moon in the elm-tree grove,29
And the autumn’s noon of gold ;30
We long for the evening hours31
When the rooks had gone to rest,32
And from myrtle scent of garden bowers33
We gazed at the crimson West.34
We long for one hour to borrow35
The heart of deep content,36
The light of a time when all our sorrow37
Was an hour in absence spent ;38
We are tired of a loveless strife39
With toil, and sin, and care ;40
And we long for the light of a nobler life,41
And the loving heart that’s there.42
Come back, O Spring of Heaven !43
Come back to a world forlorn ;44
We long for the twilight of earth’s sad even45
To melt in a golden morn ;46
We long for the mists to rise47
That hang o’er the good and true,48
To see once more, through opening skies,49
The eternal stainless blue ;50
And to walk by the palms of Paradise,51
Where Heaven and Earth are new.52
We are tired of the dreary gloom53
Of earth and earthly things,54
And we long for the soul’s immortal bloom,55
Where joy and love are her rich perfume,56
And ‘Glory’ the song she sings.57