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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.