Henry Alford

1810-1871 / England

A Greeting To Spring

Hail to the woods once more! Hail blessed burst of the spring tide!
Float over fathomless blue the fair white clouds on the zenith:
Breathes once more the balmier air, all nature stirring.
Spread profuse on the bank where I walk, the glorious mosses
Broider their winter's green with fresh spring lining of gold--work,
Carpet of softest pile. Not loom of Persian Sultan
Rains from its shuttle such light, alternately passing and passing.
Primrose--flecked beneath, the valley under the branches
Stretches away, till the gleaming trunks give place in the distance
To the rich purple brown of the winter trees in the sunlight.
Booming around me the bee, in swells and falls alternate,
Joins his hum to the chorus of larks that hang in the aether
Poised in the spaces of blue, and fill all nature with music.
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