To the First Spring Bird
From the St. Augustine News.
- Blue Bird ! on yon leafless tree,
- Dost thou carol thus to me,
- "Spring is coming! Spring is here!"
- Say'st thou so my birdling dear?
- What is that in misty shroud,
- Stealing from the darken'd cloud?
- Snow! my friend! it gathers round
- Deeply o'er the whiten'd ground,
- Still thou singest, blithe and clear,
- "Spring is coming! Spring is here!"
-
- Strik'st thou not too bold a strain?
- Winds are piping o'er the plain,
- Clouds are sweeping o'er the sky
- With a black and threat'ning eye;
- Urchins, by the frozen rill,
- Wrap their mantles closer still,
- You poor man with doubtlet old,
- Doth he shiver at the cold?
- Hath he not the nose of blue?
- Tell, me birdling, tell me true.
-
- Spring's a maid of mirth and glee,
- Rosy wreaths and revelry,
- Hast thou woo'd some winged love
- To a nest in verdant grove?
- Sung to her of greenwood bower,
- Sunny skies that never lower?
- Lur'd her with thy promise fair,
- Of a lot that knows no care?
- Prythee, bird, in coat of blue,
- Though a lover tell her true.
-
- Ask her if, when storms are long,
- She can sing a cheerful song
- When the rude winds rock the tree,
- If she'll closer cling to thee,
- Then the blasts that sweep the sky
- Unappall'd shall pass thee by.
- Tho' thy curtain'd chamber show
- Siftings of untimely snow,
- Warm and glad thy heart shall be,
- Love shall make it Spring for thee.
- L.H.S.
- Hartford Conn., January 25, 1839.
April 11, 1839. Edgefield Advertiser 4(10): 5.