The First of May (1882)
by Victor James William Patrick Daley
1910898The First of May1882Victor James William Patrick Daley

The waters make a music low:
   The river reeds
Are trembling to the tunes of long ago —
   Dead days and deeds

Become alive again, as on
   I float, and float,
Through shadows of the golden summers gone
   And springs remote.

Above my head the trees bloom out
   In white and red
Great blossoms, that make glad the air about;
   And old suns shed

Their rays athwart them. Ah, the light
   Is bright and fair!
No suns that shine upon me now are bright
   As those suns were.

And, gazing down into the stream,
   I see a face,
As sweet as buds that blossom in a dream,
   Ere sorrows chase

Fair dreams from men, and send in lieu
   Sad thoughts. A wreath
Of blue-bells binds the head—a bluer blue
   The eyes beneath.

This is my little Annie's face;
   My child-sweetheart
Whom long ago I lost in that dark place
   Where all lives part.

Beside me still I see her stand,
   Who is no more.
She walked with me through childhood, hand in hand,
   But at the door

Of youth departed from me. Fain
   Was I that day
To go with her. Ah, sweetheart, come again
   This First of May!

This work is in the public domain in Australia because it was created in Australia and the term of copyright has expired. According to Australian Copyright Council - Duration of Copyright, the following works are public domain:

  • published non-government works whose author died before January 1, 1955,
  • anonymous or pseudonymous works and photographs published before January 1, 1955, and
  • government works published more than 50 years ago (before January 1, 1974).

This work is also in the public domain in the United States because it was first published outside the United States (and not published in the U.S. within 30 days), and it was first published before 1989 without complying with U.S. copyright formalities (renewal and/or copyright notice) and it was in the public domain in Australia on the URAA date (January 1, 1996). This is the combined effect of Australia having joined the Berne Convention in 1928, and of 17 USC 104A with its critical date of January 1, 1996.

Because the Australian copyright term in 1996 was 50 years, the critical date for copyright in the United States under the URAA is January 1, 1946.


This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.

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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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