Spring Carol

WHEN loud by landside streamlets gush,

And clear in the greenwood quires the thrush,

With sun on the meadows

And songs in the shadows

Comes again to me

The gift of the tongues of the lea,

The gift of the tongues of meadows.

Straightway my olden heart returns

And dances with the dancing burns;

It sings with the sparrows;

To the rain and the (grimy) barrows

Sings my heart aloud -

To the silver-bellied cloud,

To the silver rainy arrows.

It bears the song of the skylark down,

And it hears the singing of the town;

And youth on the highways

And lovers in byways

Follows and sees:

And hearkens the song of the leas

And sings the songs of the highways.

So when the earth is alive with gods,

And the lusty ploughman breaks the sod,

And the grass sings in the meadows,

And the flowers smile in the shadows,

Sits my heart at ease,

Hearing the song of the leas,

Singing the songs of the meadows.