Spring - An 1845 Poem
By J.T. Wall. Morgantown, April 15, 1845.
- She comes! she comes! the goddess of spring!
- And the gleam of her bright and waving wing,
- As she sweeps along thro' the breeze and beam,
- Brightens the waves of the waking stream.
- She comes! and the grim old winter king
- Has spread to the blast his frosty wing,
- And far away in the North has flown,
- To his frozen halls and his icy throne!
- A mantle of beauty and life is cast
- Wherever the vernal goddess has passed
- She has shaken her wing and the sparkling showers
- She has breathed on the peaks of the lofty mountains,
- And their snows are gone and the cool sweet fountains
- Thro' their vallies are bursting wild and free,
- And their waves make music and mirth and glee!
- The hills away in the distance are seen,
- Robing themselves in colors of green;
- The blue-bells peep from their woodland bowers,
- Inhaling the breath of the joyous hours;
- And flowers are springing in vale and dell.
- And many a tale of love they tell;
- Oh! many a story their beauties will speak,
- And many a blush to the burning cheek
- Will come, when they pass as a painful token
- Of some forgotten and promises broken!
- The birds are here and their thrilling strain
- Gladdens the free blue sky again;
- The lark is up with the morn's first ray,
- And high thro' the blue vault speeds away;
- And the martin has come that was gone so long,
- Gladdening all with his joyous song;
- And his plumage gleans in the warm sunlight,
- As he glances away in his arrowy flight.
- The stainless sky o'er the lake is bending
- Its own deep hue to its bright wave lending;
- The earth from its wintry sleep is waking,
- A world of beauty upon us is breaking
- But my wild harp fails thy beauties to sing,
- So, welcome, welcome! spring! sweet spring!
May 8, 1845. New York Daily Tribune 5(25): 4.