Henry Dawson Lowry (1869–1906)

LAST night God barr’d the portals of the East,

And half-asleep I heard the sudden rain,

Most welcome, petulant at my window-pane:

And knew sweet Spring, Hell’s prisoner, was released.

To-day the North-West comes across the hills,

Kindly but cold, and in the splendid bay

White are the waves, and white the flying spray,

More white the clouds wherewith the vast sky fills.

Sudden, the rain! more swift, more icy cold

Than even hail: then, quick, the hearty sun!

And all day long, until the day is done,

Dance the gay daffodils in smocks of gold.