242 THE PROCESSION OF SPRING 



And sunshine flashed through the cold clear day 



And reddened the willow's shoot, 

 And put a love-note in the song of the lark, 



And a pulse in the violet's root. 



He chanced on a child in a woodland path, 



All quiet and still in the sleep 

 That only the hungry and frozen know, 



And the boy was fain to weep. 



His tears fell hot on the ice-bound earth. 

 And the mantle that Winter had spread 



Ever grew less in the rain and the sun, 

 And the corn lay green in its stead. 



And things that had been in hiding long 



Crept out to the light of day : 

 The snake from the bank, the dreaming-mouse 



From chambered leaves and hay. 



The mountain brook, unloosed once more, 



Went laughing to the flood, 

 And ferns hung nodding, damp and green, 



Where only boulders stood. 



