NEAR AND FAR
THE air is full of perfume and the promise of the spring,
From wintry mould the dainty blossoms come;
There's not a bird in all the boughs but's eager now to sing,
And from afar a ship is sailing home!
The cherry-blooms, all lightly blown about the verdant sward,
With silver fleck the dandelion's gold;
The jasmine and arbutus breathe the fragrance they have stored;
The crumpled ferns, like faery tents, unfold.
And low the rills are laughing, and the rivers in the sun
Are gliding on, impatient for the sea;
The wintry days are past and gone, the summer is begun,
And love from far is sailing home to me!
Ah, blessed spring!—how far more sweet than any spring of yore!
No note of all thy harmonies is dumb;
With thee my heart awakes to hope and happiness once more,—
And from afar a ship is sailing home!