May / Edward Thurlow

May

May! queen of blossoms,
     And fulfilling flowers,
With what pretty music
     Shall we charm the hours?
Wilt thou have pipe and reed,
Blown in the open mead?
Or to the lute give heed
     In the green bowers?

Thou hast no need of us,
     Or pipe or wire;
Thou hast the golden bee
     Ripen'd with fire;
And many thousand more
Songsters, that thee adore,
Filling earth's grassy floor
     With new desire.

Thou hast thy mighty herds,
     Tame and free-livers;
Doubt not, thy music too
     In the deep rivers;
And the whole plumy flight
Warbling the day and night —
Up at the gates of light,
     See, the lark quivers!

~~
Edward Thurlow (1781-1829)
from the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900, 1919

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Edward Thurlow biography