The Home Book of Verse Volume Iii Part 13

MARCH

Blossom on the plum, Wild wind and merry; Leaves upon the cherry, And one swallow come.

Red windy dawn, Swift rain and sunny; Wild bees seeking honey, Crocus on the lawn; Blossom on the plum.

Gra.s.s begins to grow, Dandelions come; Snowdrops haste to go After last month's snow; Rough winds beat and blow, Blossom on the plum.

Nora Hopper [1871-1906]

WRITTEN IN MARCH

The c.o.c.k is crowing, The stream is flowing, The small birds twitter, The lake doth glitter, The green field sleeps in the sun; The oldest and youngest Are at work with the strongest; The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising; There are forty feeding like one!

Like an army defeated The snow hath retreated, And now doth fare ill On the top of the bare hill; The ploughboy is whooping--anon--anon There's joy in the mountains; There's life in the fountains; Small clouds are sailing, Blue sky prevailing; The rain is over and gone!

William Wordsworth [1770-1850]

THE Pa.s.sING OF MARCH

The braggart March stood in the season's door With his broad shoulders blocking up the way, Shaking the snow-flakes from the cloak he wore, And from the fringes of his kirtle gray.

Near by him April stood with tearful face, With violets in her hands, and in her hair Pale, wild anemones; the fragrant lace Half-parted from her breast, which seemed like fair, Dawn-tinted mountain snow, smooth-drifted there.

She on the bl.u.s.terer's arm laid one white hand, But he would none of her soft blandishment, Yet did she plead with tears none might withstand, For even the fiercest hearts at last relent.

And he, at last, in ruffian tenderness, With one swift, crushing kiss her lips did greet.

Ah, poor starved heart!--for that one rude caress, She cast her violets underneath his feet.

Robert Burns Wilson [1850-1916]

HOME THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD

Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England--now!

And after April, when May follows And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows!

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge Leans to the field and scatters on the clover Blossoms and dewdrops--at the bent spray's edge-- That's the wise thrush: he sings each song twice over, Lest you should think he never could recapture The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with h.o.a.ry dew, All will be gay when noontide wakes anew The b.u.t.tercups, the little children's dower --Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!

Robert Browning [1812-1889]

SONG

April, April, Laugh thy girlish laughter; Then, the moment after, Weep thy girlish tears!

April, that mine ears Like a lover greetest, If I tell thee, sweetest, All my hopes and fears, April, April, Laugh thy golden laughter, But, the moment after, Weep thy golden tears!

William Watson [1858-1935]

AN APRIL ADORATION

Sang the sun rise on an amber morn-- "Earth, be glad! An April day is born.

"Winter's done, and April's in the skies, Earth, look up with laughter in your eyes!"

Putting off her dumb dismay of snow, Earth bade all her unseen children grow.

Then the sound of growing in the air Rose to G.o.d a liturgy of prayer;

And the thronged succession of the days Uttered up to G.o.d a psalm of praise.

Laughed the running sap in every vein, Laughed the running flurries of warm rain,

Laughed the life in every wandering root, Laughed the tingling cells of bud and shoot.

G.o.d in all the concord of their mirth Heard the adoration-song of Earth.

Charles G. D. Roberts [1860-

SWEET WILD APRIL

O sweet wild April Came over the hills, He skipped with the winds And he tripped with the rills; His raiment was all Of the daffodils.

Sing hi, Sing hey, Sing ho!

O sweet wild April Came down the lea, Dancing along With his sisters three: Carnation, and Rose, And tall Lily.

Sing hi, Sing hey, Sing ho!

O sweet wild April, On pastoral quill Came piping in moonlight By hollow and hill, In starlight at midnight, By dingle and rill.

Sing hi, Sing hey, Sing ho!

Where sweet wild April His melody played, Trooped cowslip, and primrose, And iris, the maid, And silver narcissus, A star in the shade.

Sing hi, Sing hey, Sing ho!