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From “In Memoriam”
LXXXII. DIP down upon the northern shore, | |
| O sweet new-year, delaying long: | |
| Thou dost expectant Nature wrong; | |
| Delaying long, delay no more. | |
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| What stays thee from the clouded noons, | 5 |
| Thy sweetness from its proper place? | |
| Can trouble live with April days, | |
| Or sadness in the summer moons? | |
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| Bring orchis, bring the foxglove spire, | |
| The little speedwell’s darling blue, | 10 |
| Deep tulips dashed with fiery dew, | |
| Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire. | |
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| O thou, new-year, delaying long, | |
| Delayest the sorrow in my blood, | |
| That longs to burst a frozen bud, | 15 |
| And flood a fresher throat with song. * * * * *
CXIV. Now fades the last long streak of snow; | |
| Now bourgeons every maze of quick | |
| About the flowering squares, and thick | |
| By ashen roots the violets blow. | |
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| Now rings the woodland loud and long, | 20 |
| The distance takes a lovelier hue, | |
| And drowned in yonder living blue | |
| The lark becomes a sightless song. | |
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| Now dance the lights on lawn and lea, | |
| The flocks are whiter down the vale, | 25 |
| And milkier every milky sail | |
| On winding stream or distant sea; | |
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| Where now the sea-mew pipes, or dives | |
| In yonder greening gleam, and fly | |
| The happy birds, that change their sky | 30 |
| To build and brood, that live their lives | |
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| From land to land; and in my breast | |
| Spring wakens too; and my regret | |
| Becomes an April violet, | |
| And buds and blossoms like the rest. | 35 |
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