Now o'er the laughing meadows,
Throned on her dewy car,
Queenly May comes with her train,
From southern climes afar,
To seek her woodland palace,
Where thousand minstrels swell
The choral hymn that hails her
In forest, copse, and dell.
Sweetly tinged with sapphire hue
Is spread a carpet fair;
Down by Luggie's fairy stream,
The hyacinth beds are there,
Golden cups and crimson bells
Wave o'er the margin green,
Blossomed thorn and birch perfume
The palace of the Queen.
Pinky buds on scented brier
Their dewy lips unclose;
Fair sultana of the dell,
The blushing wilding rose;
Mossy cushions swell around,
With sorrel pearls gleaming;
The honeysuckle clasps the rock,
With flowery tendrils streaming.
Meadows sweet, whose golden hair
Sheds out a rich perfume,
Stately foxglove, rearing high
A tower of purple bloom.
Gazing with her soft blue eye
On the dancing waters,
See the sweet forget-me-not,
Beloved of Beauty's daughters.
Hark the blackbird's dulcet notes,
Thrush and linnet singing;
Hark that maiden's melting lay,
Answering echoes ringing;
Waking up the sleeping trees,
Whispering to the flowers,
The breeze salutes, with kisses soft,
The blossoms on the bowers.
Queen of flowers, of love, and song,
How sweet with thee to dwell,
And linger by the fairy stream
In Luggie's lovely dell!
Sweeter, purer bliss was mine
When last the dell I trod,
I looked on Nature, 'looking up,
Through her, to Nature's God.'