I love the beautiful month of May
When the warblers sing and the lambskins play,
When nature puts on her robes of green
And Flora smiles like a graceful queen.
'Tis then I would like to leave the streets,
And feast on fair nature's ambrosial sweets,
And inhale the refreshing, balmy air
And bid, for a time, a farewell to care.
I would seek the flowery selvedged path,
Or the sylvan shade, or the ancient rath,
Or the stocky steep, or the old grey cairn
Or the deep ravine with its gorse and fern.
Or the verdant banks by the crystal stream,
And again indulge in my life's young dream-
The dreams I had when I used to rove
Through glade or glen or the tuneful grove.
Those joyous days when my hopes were bright,
And my future a picture of pure delight;
But time rolled on and the joys I sought,
Tho' closely followed, were rarely caught.
O! days of my youth and vigorous health,
A thousand times better than worldly wealth,
All gone! yet lingering memory strays
Far down the past to those early days.
And home and kindred and friends appear,
As in the past, warm, loving and near;
And I kiss my mother and hear her speak,
While I feel her breath on my glowing cheek.
And the years keep passing with rapid flight,
As I gaze on each scene of past delight.
Yet often, dark spots of sorrow and strife
Crop up in my past eventful life,
And I droop my head and I heave a sigh,
When I think of the clouds which o'erspread my sky.
Thus often I sigh while I muse alone,
And think of the friends and the days long gone,
When my fancied future was bright and fair,
And I loved the castles I built in the air.
But now when musing my thoughts are cast
On the by-gone scenes of the distant past.
Still the brightest days of my early youth
Were those devoted to virtue and truth,
And the glowing hopes which then warmed my breast
Still cheer my heart and afford me rest.
Tho' wintry blossoms adorn my head,
And the vigor of life be partly fled,
My vision grows bright as I near the tomb,
And gaze on that spring of eternal bloom.