Alabama, ipi8. 



THE CALL OF SPRING 



-♦^♦- 



CHILDREN, my children, the spring wakes anew, 

 And calls through the dawn and the daytime 

 For flower-like and fleet-footed maidens like you, 

 To share in the joy of its playtime. 



O'er hillside and valley, through garden and grove, 



Such exquisite anthems are ringing 

 Where rapturous bulbul and mina and dove 



Their carols of welcome are singing. 



I know where the ivory lilies unfold 



In brooklets half-hidden in sedges, 

 And the air is aglow with the blossoming gold 



Of thickets and hollows and hedges. 



I know where the dragon-flies glimmer and glide^ 

 And the plumes of wild peacocks are gleaming, 



Where the fox and the squirrel and timid fawn hide 

 And the hawk and the heron lie dreaming. 



The earth is ashine like a humming-birds wing, 

 And the sky like a kingfisher's feather, 



O come, let uS go and play with the spring 

 Like glad-hearted children together. 



— Sarojini Naidu. 



