Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MISTRESS SPRING-IN-A-HURRY, by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MISTRESS SPRING-IN-A-HURRY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Dearie o me! I am quite a flutter
Last Line: Was ever a springtime so sprightly as I?
Subject(s): Rain; Spring


DEARIE O me! I am quite a flutter,
I've forgotten to churn the new butter-cup's butter,
I've forgotten to set all the lily-bells ringing,
I've forgotten to tune up the robins for singing,
Dearie O me, and Dearie O my!
Was ever a Springtime so flustered as I?

Come, Mr. Sun, shine a little bit hotter,
Don't hide your face, please, and stop drinking kater;
Mr. Wind, get out your big broom for sweeping,
Shame, Madam Rain! this is no time for weeping,
Come now, look pleasant, the swift hours fly,
Shake out your cloudlets and hang them to dry!

Young Johnnie Frost, you run home and remember
You're not wanted here till sometime next November,
Ha, now we have it!—a little more green,
Brighten that yellow, slip pink in between,
Don't talk to me about colours that blend,
Slap them all on, 'tis the same in the end.

Send up the Mayflowers, sweet smelling piles of them,
Catkins and marsh-mallows, I can use miles of them,
Shake all those lazy trees, tickle their toes—
Don't plant hypaticas stiffly in rows,
Jumble them up a bit, crimson and blue,
Wind-flowers, violets, trilliums too!

That's the idea! and now for the gardens—
Poke up the hyacinths ere the soil hardens,
Mass purple lilacs down there by the walk,
Line up the daffodils here—and don't talk—
Rainbow-hued crocuses, narcissus white,
Soak all in perfume and leave over night.

Here come the birds! What a stirring and questing,
Fat robins chirping and bob-o-links nesting,
Gay sparrows chattering, meadow-larks racing—
Swift as the shade of the clouds they are chasing—
Green on the hillside and gold in the sky!
Was ever a Springtime so sprightly as I?





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