Littell's Living Age/Volume 144/Issue 1867/Spring

by Matthew Gotterson

For works with similar titles, see Spring.

Sunshine streaming gaily,
     Skies of deeper blue,
Crimson-budded woodlands,
     Fields of greener hue,
Tell the winter-weary
     Spring returns anew.

All is now forgotten,
     As the wild-birds sing,
Of the biting north blast —
     Winter's numbing sting —
And of weary longing
     For the jocund spring.

For the vernal sweetness
     Screens the darksome past;
Light falls where the shadows
     Erst were grim and fast:
In the lifeful present
     All is joy at last.

Shouts and youthful laughter
     Rise from out the dells
Where the runlets babble,
     Where the primrose dwells,
Where the cups and daisies
     Leave their winter cells.

Over hill and valley,
     Through the meadows gay,
By the brimming rivers
     Countless roamers stray,
Glad and sunny-hearted
     As the sun-bright day.

Age and youth a-level,
     Sage and wayward boy,
Feel the sweet heart-throbbing,
     All the life and joy
Of bright April's bringing —
     Gifts that never cloy.

Sunlight streaming gaily,
     Rain in sunny showers,
Balmy west winds blowing,
     Groups of infant flowers,
Hearts with pleasure beating
     Fill the merry hours.