Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FOOTSTEPS OF PROSERPINE: 7. SPRING ARRIVED, by NEWMAN HOWARD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FOOTSTEPS OF PROSERPINE: 7. SPRING ARRIVED, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: We will carol all the day
Last Line: Goes the pageant in a trice.
Subject(s): Hearts; Seasons; Singing & Singers; Spring; Songs


WE will carol all the day
In the coming of the May;
For the Winter goeth by
With a sorry churlish sigh,
And the Springtide cometh in
With a very merry din
Of the birdlets in the groves --
Little gossips, with their loves;
"O the merry, merry Spring!"
All those feathered fellows sing:
Now they hover on the wing,
Now on budding branches swing,
Now the dewbells from their breasts
Shake, and hie them to their nests.
Then when morning breaks again,
Clouds recumbent on the plain
Lift, and loiter by confines
Of the black embattled pines;
And the Sun-god from his car
Hurls his golden arrows far:
Every ray, a Cupid's dart,
Shall transfix a flow'ret's heart;
And ere many days are sped
All those faery people wed.
Foremost in the jolly rout
Come the giants, tall and stout,
One by one in bridal march,
Chestnut, sycamore, and larch,
Lime and elm, and silver birch,
Brawny beech left in the lurch.
Last, those ancient sturdy folk,
Curved ash and crooked oak:
Who, in vernal robes of green,
Join the merry marriage scene.
Now through fields and wildernesses
See, in countless bridal dresses,
Every flower at Hymen's feast,
From the greatest to the least:
Pimpernels, and black-eyed poppies,
Primrose peeping from the coppice,
Arum cowled -- a one-eyed Phorkys,
Glossy kingcup, mottled orchis,
Thistles -- amazons in armour,
Sabred foe of thrifty farmer,
Cowslip coy, majestic mullein,
Mallow mutinous and sullen,
Purple loosestrife minaretted,
Soft forget-me-not the petted,
And her comely jealous sister
Spit-fire bugloss (no one kist her),
All ablush with poet's praises
Pretty commoners the daisies,
Madcap roses -- ruddy, vagrant,
Iris lappeted, and fragrant
Thyme, and mint, and marshland myrtle, --
Every flower that dons a kirtle.
Little pipers, jocund all,
Pipe your loudest madrigal,
Bleating lambs and lowing cattle,
Streams and freshets, join your prattle,
Plaint of wind and surge of sea
Chime exultant symphony;
For beneath the sapphire span,
Flaming heralds in the van,
Lo, the great high priest rides in,
And the festal hours begin.
"O the merry, merry Spring!"
Loud the choir is carolling;
While those capuchins the bees,
Humming drowsy liturgies,
Bear the bridegrooms' wedding pledges
To their fellows in the hedges.
Gold, and cherished, are their dowers,
All those married faery flowers;
Who, ere Autumn leaves grow sere,
Ere the crisp ice coats the mere,
Ere the soil with frost is bound, --
Sow a new Spring in the ground.
Cometh now the final wonder:
Flash of lightning, peal of thunder!
Through an arch of colours blended,
O'er the dewy earth suspended
In a shower of hailstone rice
Goes the pageant in a trice.





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