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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SPRING by WILLIAM HAMMOND

First Line: SEE HOW THE SPRING COURTS THEE, EMAPHILIS
Last Line: WHAT WONDER THAT MY YOUTHFUL FLOOD CONSUME?
Subject(s): SPRING;

SEE how the Spring courts thee, Emaphilis;
The painted meadows to invite thy eyes
Put on their rich embroidery; the shade
Of every grove is now an harbour made
Where devout birds, to celebrate thy praise,
Each morn and evening offer up their lays;
Now the soft wind his winter-rage deposes;
Solicits gardens for the breath of roses,
To pay as homage to thy sweeter lips;
Where such nectarean fragrancy he sips,
That richly laden to the East he roves,
And with thy breath perfumes those spicy groves:
Their native fount, and sacred Naiades,
These issuing streams renouncing to thee press;
Whom finding they with purling murmurs chide,
That Nature's law commands away their tide:
Wishing that winter would confine their race
In icy chains, that they might stand and gaze.
If thou canst thus inflame Nature's cold rheum,
What wonder that my youthful flood consume?



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