THE BADGER PUBLIC LIBRARY - Wordsworth Poetry

To May

William Wordsworth

Though many suns have risen and set
    Since thou, blithe May, wert born,
And Bards, who hailed thee, may forget
    Thy gift, thy beauty scorn;
There are who to a birthday strain
    Confine not harp and voice,
But evermore throughout thy reign
    Are grateful and rejoice!

Delicious odor! music sweet,
    Too sweet to pass away!
Oh for a deathless song to meet
    The soul's desire---a lay
That, when a thousand year are told,
    Should praise thee, genial Power!
Through summer heat, autumnal cold,
    And winter's dreariest hour.

Earth, sea, thy presence feel---nor less,
    If yon ethereal blue
With its soft smile the truth express,
    The heavens have felt it too.
The inmost heart of man if glad
    Partakes a livelier cheer;
And eye that cannot but be sad
    Let fall a brightened tear.

Since thy return, through days and weeks
    Of hope that grew by stealth,
How many wan and faded cheeks
    Have kindled into health!
The Old, by thee revived, have said,
    "Another year is ours;"
And wayworn Wanderers, poorly fed,
    Have smiled upon thy flowers.

Who tripping lisps a merry song
    Amid his playful peers?
The tender Infant who was long
    A prisoner of fond fears;
But now, when every sharp-edged blast
    Is quiet in its sheath,
His Mother leaves him free to taste
    Earth's sweetness in thy breath.

Thy help is with the weed that creeps
    Along the humblest ground;
No cliff so bare but on its steeps
    Thy favors may be found;
But most on some peculiar nook
    That our own hands have drest,
Thou and thy train are proud to look,
    And seem to love it best.

And yet how pleased we wander forth
    When May is whispering, "Come!
"Choose from the bowers of virgin earth
    The happiest for your home;
HeavenÕs bounteous love through me is spread
    From sunshine, clouds, winds, waves,
Drops on the mouldering turret's head,
    And on your turf-clad graves!"

Such greeting heard, away with sighs
    For lilies that must fade,
Or ' the rathe primrose as it dies
    Forsaken' in the shade!
Vernal fruitions and desires
    Are linked in endless chase;
While, as one kindly growth retires,
    Another takes its place.

And what if thou, sweet May, hast known
    Mishap by worm and blight;
If expectations newly blown
    Have perished in thy sight;
If loves and joys, while up they sprung,
    Were caught as in a snare;
Such is the lot of all the young,
    However bright and fair.

Lo! Streams that April could not check
    Are patient of thy rule;
Gurgling in foamy water-break,
    Loitering in glassy pool:
By thee, thee only, could be sent
    Such gentle mists as glide,
Curling with unconfirmed intent,
    On that green mountain's side.

How delicate the leafy veil
    Through which yon house of God
Gleams 'mid the peace of this deep dale
    By few but shepherds trod!
And lowly huts, near beaten ways,
    No sooner stand attired
In thy fresh wreaths, than they for praise
    Peep forth, and are admired.

Season of fancy and of hope,
    Permit not for one hour,
A blossom from thy crown to drop,
    Nor add to it a flower!
Keep, lovely May, as if by touch
    Of self restraining art,
This modest charm of not too much,
    Part seen, imagined part!