A VISION OF GREEN LEAVES.
The time was Winter, Winter or the Spring
That comes with tardy footstep, lingering
Like some reluctant Giver, yielding cold
The boons that it no longer may withhold;
And ere I slept, I listened to the rain
Dashed by the fitful wind against the pane,
The wind, that even through my sleep did seem
To break upon the music of my dream,
With pause of change and dreariness, and still
Swelled, sighed, and moaned each varying scene to fill
With trouble and unrest; at length outworn
I slept within my sleep, and to the Morn
(Still in my dream) awoke, with vacant eye
Forth from the casement gazing listlessly,
When sudden I exclaimed, "A miracle!
A Summer come at once, without a Spring
To herald it! a bright awakening
To life and loveliness," for all around
Were leaves, green bursting leaves, and on the ground
Was short grass springing thick, and through the wave
The dark flag cut its swift way like a glaive;
And broad as Orient growths, upon the pool,
Large, juicy leaves lay mantling, smooth and cool:
That comes with tardy footstep, lingering
Like some reluctant Giver, yielding cold
The boons that it no longer may withhold;
And ere I slept, I listened to the rain
Dashed by the fitful wind against the pane,
The wind, that even through my sleep did seem
To break upon the music of my dream,
With pause of change and dreariness, and still
Swelled, sighed, and moaned each varying scene to fill
With trouble and unrest; at length outworn
I slept within my sleep, and to the Morn
(Still in my dream) awoke, with vacant eye
Forth from the casement gazing listlessly,
When sudden I exclaimed, "A miracle!
A Summer come at once, without a Spring
To herald it! a bright awakening
To life and loveliness," for all around
Were leaves, green bursting leaves, and on the ground
Was short grass springing thick, and through the wave
The dark flag cut its swift way like a glaive;
And broad as Orient growths, upon the pool,
Large, juicy leaves lay mantling, smooth and cool:
