Oh the cheerful budding-time When thorn-hedges turn to green; When new leaves of elm and lime Cleave and shed their winter screen: Tender lambs are born and baa, North wind finds no snow to bring, Vigorous nature laughs Haha In the miracle of spring. Oh the gorgeous blossom-days When broad flag-flowers drink and blow; In and out in summer blaze Dragonflies flash to and fro: Ashen branches hang out keys, Oaks put forth the rosy shoot, Wandering herds wax sleek at ease, Lovely blossoms end in fruit. Oh the shouting harvest-weeks: Mother Earth grown fat with sheaves; Thrifty gleaner finds who seeks: Russet golden pomp of leaves Crowns the woods, to fall at length; Bracing winds are felt to stir, Ocean gathers up her strength, Beasts renew their dwindled fur. Oh the starving winter-lapse, Ice-bound, hunger-pinched and dim: Dormant roots recal their saps, Empty nests show black and grim, Short-lived sunshine gives no heat, Undue buds are nipped by frost, Snow sets forth a windingsheet And all hope of life seems lost. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A CARELESS HEART by ISAAC ROSENBERG JOHANNA PEDERSEN by KAREN SWENSON MACFLECKNOE; OR, A SATIRE UPON THE TRUE-BLUE-PROTESTANT POET by JOHN DRYDEN LUCY (1) by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE WITHERED ROSE by PHILIP AYRES |