| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | IV. May-time in England | | By Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) |
| | (1832)
IS this the merry May of tale and song? | |
| Chill breathes the north, the sky looks chilly blue, | |
| The waters wear a cold and iron hue, | |
| Or wrinkle as the crisp wave creeps along, | |
| Much like an ague-fit. The starry throng | 5 |
| Of flow’rets droop, o’erdone with drenching dew, | |
| Or close their leaves at noon, as if they knew | |
| And felt, in helpless wrath, the season’s wrong. | |
| Yet in the half-clad woods, the busy birds | |
| Chirping with all their might to keep them warm, | 10 |
| The young hare flitting from her ferny form, | |
| The vernal lowing of the amorous herds, | |
| And swelling buds, impatient of delay, | |
| Declare it should be, though it is not, May. | | | | |
|
|
