In May / Madison Cawein

 

In May

When you and I in the hills went Maying,
     You and I in the bright May weather,
     The birds, that sang on the boughs together,
There in the green of the woods, kept saying
     All that my heart was saying low,
     ‘I love you! love you!’ soft and low,
          And did you know?
When you and I in the hills went Maying.

There where the brook on its rocks went winking,
     There by its banks where the May had led us,
     Flowers, that bloomed in the woods and meadows,
Azure and gold at our feet, kept thinking
     All that my soul was thinking there,
     ‘I love you! love you!’ softly there
          And did you care?
There where the brook on its rocks went winking.

Whatever befalls through fate’s compelling,
     Should our paths unite or our pathways sever,
     In the Mays to come I shall feel forever
The wildflowers thinking, the wild birds telling,
     In words as soft as the falling dew,
     The love that I keep here still for you,
          Both deep and true,
Whatever befalls through fate’s compelling.

~~
Madison Cawein (1865-1914)
from Myth and Romance, 1899

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Madison Cawein biography