Spring Greeting

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Spring Greeting
From the German of Herder (1864)
by Sidney Lanier

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Sidney Lanier composed this poem in 1864 in Point Lookout Prison, Maryland, where he was prisoner of war after being captured by Union Forces during the American Civil War. This poem is grouped among his “unrevised early works”.

117502Spring Greeting
From the German of HerderSidney Lanier

All faintly through my soul to-day,
As from a bell that far away
Is tinkled by some frolic fay,
      Floateth a lovely chiming.
Thou magic bell, to many a fell
And many a winter-saddened dell
Thy tongue a tale of Spring doth tell,
      Too passionate-sweet for rhyming.

Chime out, thou little song of Spring,
Float in the blue skies ravishing.
Thy song-of-life a joy doth bring
      That’s sweet, albeit fleeting.
Float on the Spring-winds e’en to my home:
And when thou to a rose shalt come
That hath begun to show her bloom,
      Say, I send her greeting!