Spring - April 1845
By Jesse E. Dow. Washington, April 7, 1845.
- Sweetly the blue bird warbles spring
- From orchard boughs where blossoms cling,
- And soft the sea breeze greets the hours
- With music from the land of flowers;
- The lilac bush with greenest leaves
- From the bland air its strength receives,
- And opens to the morning's eye
- Its fragrant crown of purple dye.
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- The forest from its stately head
- Shakes off its garland pale and dead,
- And like an oriental queen
- Puts on its dress of living green;
- Its dusky limbs, seen here and there,
- Serve but to make its robe more fair;
- While flowers of earliest blooming greet
- The sun-shine flickering at its feet.
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- Deep with the tide of melted snows
- On its wild way the river goes,
- Its truant angler answering shrill
- The plough boy's signal on the hill,
- When from the school house in the vale,
- The pedagogue, with visage pale,
- Strides forth to save, with rod and rule,
- The blockhead of the district school.
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- The fruit trees blossoming in pride,
- Like almond groves on Carmel's side,
- Wave in the morning gale, and fling
- Their petals on the lap of spring;
- The running myrtle twines around
- The grave within the burial ground,
- Where, startled by affection's tread,
- Flits the sweet bird that loves the dead.
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- How soothing is the time of flowers,
- Of humming bees and whispering bowers,
- When rosy children seek the wood,
- Where the sly partridge trains her brood;
- Then fierce consumption stops awhile
- And spreads o'er beauty's face a smile,
- While nature, from her slumbering free,
- Warms the cold heart and leafless tree.
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- When the lone winter of the soul
- Shall lose its terrible control,
- And from its cold embrace the heart,
- Like the first flower of spring, shall start;
- Oh may the breeze of Eden play
- Around it in eternal day,
- And cause its sickly bud to bloom
- The fairest flower beyond the tomb.
May 1, 1845. Pittsfield Sun 45(2328): 1. Poetry feature on the front page. From the Madisonian.