| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | May-day on Magdalen Tower | | By Thomas Herbert Warren (1853–1930) |
| | Written for Mr. Holman Hunt’s Picture
MORN of the year, of day and May the prime! | |
| How fitly do we scale the steep dark stair! | |
| Into the brightness of the matin air, | |
| To praise with chanted hymn and echoing chime, | |
| Dear Lord of Light, Thy lowlihead sublime | 5 |
| That stoop’d erewhile our life’s frail weed to wear! | |
| Sun, cloud, and hill, all things Thou framest so fair, | |
| With us are glad and gay, greeting the time. | |
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| The college of the lily leaves her sleep; | |
| The grey tower rocks and trembles into sound, | 10 |
| Dawn-smitten Memnon of a happier hour; | |
| Through faint-hued fields the silver waters creep; | |
| Day grows, birds pipe, and robed anew and crown’d, | |
| Green Spring trips forth to set the world aflower. | | | | |
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