A Song for April
List! list! The buds confer:
This noonday they've had news of her;
The south bank has had views of her;
The thorn shall exact his dues of her;
The willows adream
By the freshet stream
Shall ask what boon they choose of her.
Up! up! The world's astir;
The would-be green has word of her;
Root and germ have heard of her,
Coming to break
Their sleep and wake
Their hearts with every bird of her.
See! see! How swift concur
Sun, wind, and rain at the name of her,
A-wondering what became of her;
The fields flower at the flame of her;
The glad air sings
With dancing wings
And the silvery shrill acclaim of her.
---
Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943)
From Poems, 1901
[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]
Carolyn M. Highsmith, Sculpture of Diana, Houston, Texas, March 2014 (detail).
Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
"boon: 1). a thing that is helpful or beneficial 2). ARCHAIC a favor or request." Oxford Languages
ReplyDeleteI noticed from this that it is forgivable to be one syllable more or less off of meter.
Someone's missing.
Each stanza has an exclamatory introduction. Interesting stanza form, indented lineation. Each stanza ending with a statement about 'her' - April.
• Rhyme Scheme: ABBBCCB ABBDDB ABBBEEB; identical rhyme employing the same word, 'her', hmm? Different.
Cathleen Harvea