IN THE SPRINGTIME

By Roswell Martin Field

‘ T is spring! The boats bound to the sea;

The breezes, loitering kindly over

The fields, again bring herds and men

The grateful cheer of honeyed clover.

Now Venus hither leads her train;

The Nymphs and Graces join in orgies;

The moon is bright, and by her light

Old Vulcan kindles up his forges.

Bind myrtle now about your brow,

And weave fair flowers in maiden tresses;

Appease god Pan, who, kind to man,

Our fleeting life with affluence blesses;

But let the changing seasons mind us,

That Death's the certain doom of mortals,—

Grim Death, who waits at humble gates,

And likewise stalks through kingly portals.

Soon, Sestius, shall Plutonian shades

Enfold you with their hideous seemings;

Then love and mirth and joys of earth

Shall fade away like fevered dreamings.