Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | III. The Seasons | | March | | William Morris (1834–1896) |
| | | SLAYER of winter, art thou here again? | |
| O welcome, thou that bring’st the summer nigh! | |
| The bitter wind makes not thy victory vain, | |
| Nor will we mock thee for thy faint blue sky. | |
| Welcome, O March! whose kindly days and dry | 5 |
| Make April ready for the throstle’s song, | |
| Thou first redresser of the winter’s wrong! | |
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| Yea, welcome March! and though I die ere June, | |
| Yet for the hope of life I give thee praise, | |
| Striving to swell the burden of the tune | 10 |
| That even now I hear thy brown birds raise, | |
| Unmindful of the past or coming days; | |
| Who sing, “O joy! a new year is begun! | |
| What happiness to look upon the sun!” | |
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| O, what begetteth all this storm of bliss, | 15 |
| But Death himself, who, crying solemnly, | |
| Even from the heart of sweet Forgetfulness, | |
| Bids us, “Rejoice! lest pleasureless ye die. | |
| Within a little time must ye go by. | |
| Stretch forth your open hands, and, while ye live, | 20 |
| Take all the gifts that Death and Life may give.” | | | | |
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