C 4<X> ] [APRIL, 



THE COMING OF SPRING. 



THE voice of Spring the voice of Spring ! 



I hear it from afar ! 

 He comes with sunlight on his wing, 



And ray of morning's star : 

 His impulse thrills through rill and flood, 



It throbs along the main ; 

 'Tis stirring in the waking wood, 



And trembling o'er the plain ! 



The cuckoo's call, from hill to hill, 



Announces he is nigh : 

 The nightingale has found the rill 



She loved to warble by : 

 The thrush to sing is all athirst, 



But will not, till he see 

 Some sign of him then out will burst 



The treasured melody ! 



He comes he comes .'Behold, behold 



That glory in the east 

 Of burning beams of glowing gold, 



And light by light increased ! 

 Already Earth unto her heart 



Inhales the genial heat 

 Already, see, the flowers start 



To beautify his feet ! 



The violet is sweetening now 



The air of hill and dell ; 

 The snow-drops, that from Winter's brow, 



As he retreated, fell, 

 Have turned to flowers, and gem the bowers 



Where late the wild storm whirled ; 

 And warmer rays, with lengthening days, 



Give verdure to the world. 



The work is done ; but there is ONE, 



Who has the task assigned, 

 Who guides the serviceable sun, 



And gathers up the wind ; 

 Who showers down the needful rain 



He measures in his hand ; 

 And rears the tender-springing grain, 



That joy may fill the land. 



The youthful Spring the pleasant Spring ! 



His course is forward now : 

 He comes with sunlight on his wing, 



And beauty on his brow : 

 His impulse thrills through rill and flood, 



And throbs along the main 

 'Tis stirring in the waking wood, 



And trembling o'er the plain ! 



Mar eft 18. C. W. 



