SOFT-LITTERED is the new-year's lambing-fold, And in the hollowed haystack at its side The shepherd lies o' nights now, wakeful-eyed At the ewes' travailing call through the dark cold. The young rooks cheep 'mid the thick caw o' the old: And near unpeopled stream-sides, on the ground, By her spring-cry the moorhen's nest is found, Where the drained flood-lands flaunt their marigold. Chill are the gusts to which the pastures cower, And chill the current where the young reeds stand As green and close as the young wheat on land: Yet here the cuckoo and the cuckoo-flower Plight to the heart Spring's perfect imminent hour Whose breath shall soothe you like your dear one's hand. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO GOD THE FATHER by KATHERINE MANSFIELD AN ALPINE PICTURE by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND by THOMAS CAMPBELL THE WOOING by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR BURY ME IN A FREE LAND by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER ASTROPHEL AND STELLA: 63 by PHILIP SIDNEY |