A Shropshire Lad/The Lent Lily

by Alfred Edward Housman

XXIX

THE LENT LILY

'T is spring; come out to ramble The hilly brakes around,For under thorn and bramble About the hollow ground The primroses are found.

And there's the windflower chilly With all the winds at play,And there's the Lenten lily That has not long to stay And dies on Easter day.

And since till girls go maying You find the primrose still,And find the windflower playing With every wind at will, But not the daffodil,

Bring baskets now, and sally Upon the spring's array,And bear from hill and valley The daffodil away That dies on Easter day.

 

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