January / E. Nesbit

January

While yet the air is keen, and no bird sings,
    Nor any vaguest thrills of heart declare
    The presence of the springtime in the air,
Through the raw dawn the shepherd homeward brings
The wee white lambs — the little helpless things —
    For shelter, warmth, and comfortable care.
    Without his help how hardly lambs would fare —
How hardly live through winter's hours to spring's!
So let me tend and minister apart
    To my new hope, which some day you shall know:
It could not live in January wind
Of your disdain; but when within your heart
    The bud and bloom of tenderness shall grow,
Amid the flowers my hope may welcome find.

~~

E. Nesbit (1858-1924)

from Lays and Legends, 1886

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

E. Nesbit biography

Sheep and Lambs / Katharine Tynan

Sheep and Lambs

All in the April evening,
     April airs were abroad,
The sheep with their little lambs
     Passed me by on the road.

The sheep with their little lambs
     Passed me by on the road;
All in the April evening
     I thought on the Lamb of God.

The lambs were weary, and crying
     With a weak, human cry.
I thought on the Lamb of God
     Going meekly to die.

Up in the blue, blue mountains
     Dewy pastures are sweet
Rest for the little bodies,
     Rest for the little feet

~~
Katharine Tynan (1861-1931)
from Ballads and Lyrics, 1891

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

Katharine Tynan biography