The Works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld/Volume 1/Ode to Spring
For other versions of this work, see Ode to Spring.
ODE TO SPRING.
Sweet daughter of a rough and stormy sire,Hoar Winter's blooming child; delightful Spring!Whose unshorn locks with leavesAnd swelling buds are crowned;
From the green islands of eternal youth,—Crowned with fresh blooms and ever springing shade,—Turn, hither turn thy step,O thou, whose powerful voice
More sweet than softest touch of Doric reed,Or Lydian flute, can soothe the madding winds,—And through the stormy deepBreathe thine own tender calm.
Thee, best beloved! the virgin train awaitWith songs and festal rites, and joy to roveThy blooming wilds among,And vales and dewy lawns,
With untired feet; and cull thy earliest sweetsTo weave fresh garlands for the glowing browOf him, the favoured youthThat prompts their whispered sigh.
Unlock thy copious stores,—those tender showersThat drop their sweetness on the infant buds;And silent dews that swellThe milky ear's green stem,
And feed the flowering osier's early shoots;And call those winds which through the whispering boughsWith warm and pleasant breathSalute the blowing flowers.
Now let me sit beneath the whitening thorn,And mark thy spreading tints steal o'er the dale;And watch with patient eyeThy fair unfolding charms.
O nymph, approach! while yet the temperate sunWith bashful forehead through the cool moist airThrows his young maiden beams,And with chaste kisses wooes
The earth's fair bosom; while the streaming veilOf lucid clouds with kind and frequent shadeProtects thy modest bloomsFrom his severer blaze.
Sweet is thy reign, but short:—The red dog-starShall scorch thy tresses, and the mower's scytheThy greens, thy flowerets all,Remorseless shall destroy.
Reluctant shall I bid thee then farewell:For O, not all that Autumn's lap contains,Nor Summer's ruddiest fruits,Can aught for thee atone,
Fair Spring! whose simplest promise more delightsThan all their largest wealth, and through the heartEach joy and new-born hopeWith softest influence breathes.