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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


ON THE WYE IN MAY by AMY LEVY

First Line: NOW IS THE PERFECT MOMENT OF THE YEAR
Last Line: WHERE FIRST AND BEST AND LAST SHALL BE THE SAME.
Subject(s): SPRING; WYE (RIVER), GREAT BRITAIN;

NOW is the perfect moment of the year.
Half naked branches, half a mist of green,
Vivid and delicate the slopes appear ;
The cool, soft air is neither fierce nor keen,

And in the temperate sun we feel no fear ;
Of all the hours which shall be and have been,
It is the briefest as it is most dear,
It is the dearest as the shortest seen.

O it was best, beloved, at the first. --
Our hands met gently, and our meeting sight
Was steady ; on our senses scarce had burst
The faint, fresh fragrance of the new delight. . . .

I seek that clime, unknown, without a name,
Where first and best and last shall be the same.





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