Ah! the spring...

Ah! the spring,

Sudden, surprising,

Melting the iron scales around the heart

As the earliest sun

Melts the cold case of dew on leaves —

Ah! the streets like odorous rivers

Chanting the echoes of seas —

Ah! the flowers in shop-windows

Beseeching, persuasive,

Reluctant to let their beauty flow away

From thoughts that mirror them in passing —

Beautiful exiles

Fluttering in their chains,

Thrilled with the noise of bees,

The music of meadows

Still hovering around them —

Flower fingers, flower-touches,

Passional, reminiscent,

Rippling the soul's still waters —

Flower galaxies,

Enamelled bridges arching from dream to dream,

Garlands splashing over the eyes of satyrs,

The furtive woodland eyes,

The pointed inquisitive ears —

Pallid flowers foaming on hill-crests,

Gushing heavenwards

From a sea of stormy mountains —

Opening and shutting exquisite doors,

As the senses open to music,

Shut upon silence,

Open to beauty,

Close their caskets upon love —

Ah! the flowers in the windows,

Amorous of poets

Making a chaplet of song!