FIRST SPRING FLOWERS 



earth is a wintry clod : 



But spring-wind, like a dancing psaltress, passes 

 Over its breast to waken it, rare verdure 

 Buds tenderly upon rough banks, between 

 The withered tree-roots and the cracks of frost, 

 Like a smile striving with a wrinkled face. 



4 Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; 

 the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the 

 singing of birds is come.' So runs the song of 

 the Wise Man, and if we are too prone to 

 harbour the delightful thought that winter 

 is past and a new season at hand, we 

 may be forgiven, for a mild and visibly 



lengthened day has 

 followed one of blus- 

 tering wind and icy 

 snow and we have found the first 

 golden globes of the aconite 

 nestling in their green ruffles : 

 and in its tender elegance have 

 found a snowdrop ' blanched 





THE FIRST GOLD GIFT HAS COMK TO 

 BLESS THE YEAR FROM EARTH'S 

 ABUNDANT BOSOM ' 



'BLANCHED WITH FRIGHT 



