The woods with living airs Light airs from where the deep, All down the sand, O, follow, leaping blood, O heart, look down and up, Serene, secure, Warm as the crocus cup, Past, Future glimpse and fade Till at thy chuckled note, For now the Heavenly Power Makes all things new, And thaws the cold, and fills The flower with dew; The blackbirds have their wills, The poets too. Alfred Tennyson ROBIN'S COME! From the elm-tree's topmost bough, Robin's come! Of the winter we are weary, Robin's come! Ring it out o'er hill and plain, Till the green leaves dance again, Robin's come! Then, as thou wert wont of yore, Build thy nest and rear thy young, Close beside our cottage door, In the woodbine leaves among; Hurt or harm thou need'st not fear, Nothing rude shall venture near: Robin's come! Swinging still o'er yonder lane Robin answers merrily; Ravished by the sweet refrain, Robin's come! William Warner Caldwell WRITTEN IN MARCH The cock is crowing, The stream is flowing, The lake doth glitter, Are at work with the strongest; The cattle are grazing, Their heads never raising; Like an army defeated On the top of the bare hill; The ploughboy is whooping-anon—anon There's life in the fountains; Blue sky prevailing; The rain is over and gone! SONG William Wordsworth April, April, Laugh thy girlish laughter; Weep thy girlish tears! Laugh thy golden laughter, But, the moment after, Weep thy golden tears! William Watson 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, And after April, when May follows, And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows! Blossoms and dewdrops-at the bent spray's edge- you The first fine careless rapture! And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, Robert Browning 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, O sweet wild April on pastoral quill Where sweet wild April his melody played, When sweet wild April dipped down the dale, When sweet wild April through deep woods pressed, O sweet wild April, wherever you went |