Mount Auburn in May / Louise Imogen Guiney

Mount Auburn in May

This is earth's liberty-day:
Yonder the linden-trees sway
     To music of winds from the west,
And I hear the old merry refrain,
Of the stream that has broken its chain
     By the gates of the City of Rest,

The City whose exquisite towers
I see thro' the sunny long hours
     If but from my window I lean;
Yea, dearest! thy threshold of stone,
Thine ivy-grown door and my own
     Have naught save the river between.

Thine on that heavenly height
Are beauty, and warmth, and delight;
     And long as our parting shall be,
Live there in thy summer! nor know
How near lie the frost and the snow
     On hearts that are breaking for thee.

~~

Louise Imogen Guiney (1861-1920)

from Songs at the Start, 1884

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

Louise Imogen Guiney autobiography

When Trees are Green / Jean Blewett

When Trees are Green

Would you be glad of heart and good?
     Would you forget life's toil and care?
Come, lose yourself in this old wood
     When May's soft touch is everywhere.

The hawthorn trees are white as snow,
     The basswood flaunts its feathery sprays,
The willows kiss the stream below
     And listen to its flatteries:

"O willows supple, yellow, green,
     Long have I flowed o'er stock and stone,
I say with truth I have not seen
     A rarer beauty than your own!"

The rough-bark hickory, elm, and beech
     With quick'ning thrill and growth are rife;
Oak, maple, through the heart of each
     There runs a glorious tide of life.

Fresh leaves, young buds on every hand,
     On trunk and limb a hint of red,
The gleam of poplars tall that stand
     With God's own sunshine on their head.

The mandrake's silken parasol
     Is fluttering in the breezes bold,
And yonder where the waters brawl
     The buttercups show green and gold.

The slender grape-vine sways and weaves,
     From sun-kissed sward and nook of gloom
There comes the smell of earth and leaves,
     The breath of wild-flowers all abloom.

Spring's gleam is on the robin's breast,
     Spring's joy is in the robin's song:
"My mate is in yon sheltered nest;
     Ho! love is sweet and summer long!"

While full and jubilant and clear,
     All the long day, from dawn till dark,
The trill of bobolink we hear,
     Of hermit thrush and meadowlark.

Sit here among the grass and fern
     Unmindful of the cares of life,
The lessons we have had to learn,
     The hurts we've gotten in the strife.

There's youth in every breath we take,
     Forgetfulness of loss and tears,
Within the heart there seems to wake
     The gladness of the long past years.

Peace keeps us company to-day
     In this old fragrant, shadowy wood;
We lift our eyes to heaven and say:
     The world is fair and God is good.

~~
Jean Blewett (1872-1934)
from The Cornflower, and other poems, 1906

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

Jean Blewett biography

"When Trees are Green" read by Harrison Root. Courtesy Pilgrimage of Poetry.

In a Wood / Coventry Patmore

In a Wood

'Twas when the spousal time of May
     Hangs all the hedge with bridal wreaths,
And air's so sweet the bosom gay
     Gives thanks for every breath it breathes,
When like to like is gladly moved,
     And each thing joins in Spring's refrain,
"Let those love now who never loved;
     Let those who have loved love again;"
That I, in whom the sweet time wrought,
     Lay stretch'd within a lonely glade,
Abandon'd to delicious thought
     Beneath the softly twinkling shade.
The leaves, all stirring, mimick'd well
     A neighbouring rush of rivers cold,
And, as the sun or shadow fell,
     So these were green and those were gold;
In dim recesses hyacinths droop'd,
     And breadths of primrose lit the air,
Which, wandering through the woodland, stoop'd
     And gather'd perfumes here and there;
Upon the spray the squirrel swung,
     And careless songsters, six or seven,
Sang lofty songs the leaves among,
     Fit for their only listener, Heaven.

~~

Coventry Patmore (1823-1896)

from Florilegium Amantis, 1879

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Coventry Patmore bibliography

The Judgment of the May / Richard Watson Dixon

The Judgment of the May

Come to the judgment, golden threads
     Upon golden hair in rich array;
Many a chesnut shakes its heads,
     Many a lupine at this day.
Many a white rose in our beds
     Waits the judgment of the May.

Oh, like white roses, great white queen,
     Come to the judgment, come to-day.
The white stars on thy robes of green
     Are like white roses on trees in May:
By me thy stars and flowers are seen,
     But now thou seemest far away.

~~
Richard Watson Dixon (1833-1900)
from Christ's Company, and other poems, 1861

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Richard Watson Dixon biography

'Tis Spring, my love, 'tis spring / John Clare

'Tis Spring, my love, 'tis Spring

     'Tis Spring, my love, 'tis Spring,
     And the birds begin to sing:
If 't was Winter, left alone with you,
     Your bonny form and face,
     Would make a Summer place,
And be the finest flower that ever grew.

     'Tis Spring, my love, 'tis Spring,
     And the hazel catkins hing,
While the snowdrop has its little blebs of dew;
     But that's not so white within
     As your bosom's hidden skin —
That sweetest of all flowers that ever grew.

     The sun arose from bed,
     All strewn with roses red,
But the brightest and the loveliest crimson place
     Is not so fresh and fair,
     Or so sweet beyond compare,
As thy blushing, ever smiling, happy face.

     I love Spring's early flowers,
     And their bloom in its first hours,
But they never half so bright or lovely seem
     As the blithe and happy grace
     Of my darling's blushing face,
And the happiness of love's young dream.

~~
John Clare (1793-1864)
from The Poems of John Clare, 1901

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

John Clare biography

A Madrigal / Isidore G. Ascher

A Madrigal

Open the window, darling,
     And welcome the breath of Spring,
For the spirit of Joy is abroad,
     And gladdens each sentient thing!
My heart is drear as the wintry earth
     Shrouded in bleakest night,
But thou canst banish its frosted cares.
     Spirit of Love and Light!

Open the window, darling;
     I hear the gush of a song,
That comes from the beautiful spring-time,
     Flitting, like Hope, along.
My heart is sad as an autumn morn,
     Before the winter's blight,
But thou canst scatter its sorrowful mist,
     Spirit of Joy and Light!

~~

Isidore G. Ascher (1835-1933)

from Voices from the Hearth, 1863

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Isidore G. Ascher biography

Penny's Top 20 / April 2014

Penny's Top 20
The most-visited poems on  The Penny Blog in April 2014:

  1.  Esthétique du Mal, Wallace Stevens
  2.  April in the Hills, Archibald Lampman
  3.  Demeter's Tears
  4.  An April Fool of Long Ago, Jean Blewett
  5.  Spring Again, George J. Dance
  6.  Spring Rain, Sara Teasdale
  7.  Sheep and Lambs, Katharine Tynan
  8.  April, Ernest Howard Crosby
  9.  Spring Longings, F.W. Bourdillon
10.  Love at Easter, Katharine Tynan

11.  Good Is Good. It Is a Beautiful Night, Wallace Stevens
12.  Spring Song, A. Mary F. Robinson
13.  Easter, Katharine Tynan
14.  Spring is like a perhaps hand, E.E. Cummings
15.  Penny (or Penny's Hat), George J. Dance
16.  Large Red Man Reading, Wallace Stevens
17.  A City Sunset, T.E. Hulme
18.  The Blue Heron, Theodore Goodridge Roberts
19.  Last Week in October, Thomas Hardy
20.  Bird Cage, Hector de Sain-Denys Garneau


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