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.