06 November 2013

Spring - An 1850 Poem

By J.R. Barrick. Glasgow, Ky., March, 1850.
The winter winds and storms are past,
The surly blasts are blown,
The voice of Spring is heard at last,
In blithe and joyous tone;
The little streams, from forest set free,
With gladdening music sing;
The south winds come with songs of glee
To welcome in the Spring.
 
The heart of earth its foliage wide
Unfolds like summer's rose;
Through wood and stream a quickening tide
Of life and beauty flows;
The light of May is on the sky,
Its sunshine on the wing,
While winter's shades and shadows fly
To welcome in the Spring.
 
The flowers are gently springing up
On hill-side and on lawn,
The daisy and the buttercup,
Breathe in the balm of morn;
The rills and brooks soft answer make
To birds on soaring wing,
The mingling strains of nature wake
To welcome in the Spring.
 
I list me to the cheering song
Of robin and the wren,
The mocking bird and jocund throng
Of warblers in the glen;
The winds and zephyrs too, rejoice,
While every living thing
On earth outpours a grateful voice
To welcome in the Spring.
April 23, 1850. Lancaster Intelligencer 51(13): 1. From the Louisville Journal. Also April 27, 1850 in the Bradford Reporter.