Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


A SONG FOR THE SEASONS by BRYAN WALLER PROCTER

First Line: WHEN THE MERRY LARK DOTH GILD
Last Line: SUMMER, WINTER, SPRING TIMES.

WHEN the merry lark doth gild
With his song the summer hours,
And their nests the swallows build
In the roofs and tops of towers,
And the golden gorse-flower burns
About the waste,
And the maiden May returns
With a pretty haste.
Sing then, how merry are the times,
The summer times, the spring times.

Now from off his ashen stone
The chilly midnight cricket crieth,
And all merry birds are gone,
And our dream of pleasure dieth.
Now the once blue laughing sky
Saddens into gray,
And the frozen rivers sigh,
Pining all away.
Now how solemn are the times,
The winter times, the night times.

Yet be merry; all around
Is through one vast change revolving:
Even night, who lately frowned,
Is in silver dawn dissolving.
Earth will burst her fetters strange,
And in spring grow free,
All things in the world will change,
Save my love to thee.
Sing then, hopeful are all times—
Summer, winter, spring times.



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