To Fredericton in May-Time / Charles G.D. Roberts

To Fredericton in May-Time

This morning, full of breezes and perfume,
     Brimful of promise of midsummer weather,
     When bees and birds and I are glad together,
Breathes of the full-leaved season, when soft gloom
Chequers thy streets, and thy close elms assume
     Round roof and spire the semblance of green billows;
     Yet now thy glory is the yellow willows,
The yellow willows, full of bees and bloom.
Under their dusty blossoms blackbirds meet,
     And robins pipe amid the cedars nigher;
Thro’ the still elms I hear the ferry’s beat;
     The swallows chirp about the towering spire;
The whole air pulses with its weight of sweet;
     Yet not quite satisfied is my desire!

---
Charles G.D. Roberts, 1881
from In Divers Tones, 1886

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Charles G.D. Roberts (by George J. Dance)