Days! days! arbutus days! They come from heaven on high; They wrap the world in brooding haze, They marry earth and sky. What lures me onward o'er the hills, Or down the beaten trail? Vague murmuring all the valley fills, And yonder calls the quail. Like mother bird upon her nest The day broods o'er the earth; Fresh hope and life fill every breast; I share the spring's new birth. Awake! arise! and April wise Seek out a forest side, Where under wreaths of withered leaves The shy sweet flowers hide. I hear the hum of red-ruff's drum, And hark! the thrasher sings; His russet form's against the sky, And bold his murmurings. Upon my soul, he calls the roll Of all the birds o' the year -- "Veery!" "Cheewink!" "Oriole!" "Bobolink!" "Make haste!" "The spring is here." Now pause and mark the meadowlark Send forth his call to spring; "Why don't you hear? 'Tis spring o' the year!" -- Like dart from sounding string. Ah! the golden shaft, 'twas he that laughed And lifted up his bill; "Wick, wick; wick, wick;" "Wake up, be quick;" The ant is on her hill. The bloodroot's face with saintly grace Stars all the unkempt way, Upon the rocks in merry flocks Dicentra dances gay. The hemlock trees hum in the breeze, The swallow's on the wing; In forest aisles are genial smiles, To greet thy burgeoning. Again the sun is over all, Again the robin's evening call Or early morning lay, I hear the stir about the farms, I see the earth with open arms, I feel the breath of May. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EMERSON by MARY ELIZABETH MAPES DODGE SONNET: 3 by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS A PORTRAIT by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE NEW CRUSADE by KATHARINE LEE BATES THE PHOENIX by ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON |