All, spring’s approach with pleasure hail
And breathe with joy the vernal gale
The virgin flower that bashful blows
Distinguished scarce from kindred snows
The crocus whose emboldened hues
A glow upon the scene diffuse
The primrose pale, with modest mien
The violet hid in foliage green
Th’ uncertain sunshine of the sky
Say, “Spring is come, and summer’s nigh”
Joy these diffuse o’er every heart
But these no joy to me impart.
Too well I know, the time is near
When I, tho’ now so much your care
Unnoticed here for months shall lie
While you to distant regions hie
That power1 benign at whose command
The richly-tinted flowers expand
To North, to South, to every side
Will bid my patron band divide
Yet hope soft whispers, “When his car
To southern climes shall Phoebus bear
Then charged with many a polished strain
Your votaries will return again.”
E.R.
Summer… ↩