Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | III. The Seasons | | May Morning | | Celia Laighton Thaxter (1835–1894) |
| | | WARM, wild, rainy wind, blowing fitfully, | |
| Stirring dreamy breakers on the slumberous May sea, | |
| What shall fail to answer thee? What thing shall withstand | |
| The spell of thine enchantment, flowing over sea and land? | |
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| All along the swamp-edge in the rain I go; | 5 |
| All about my head thou the loosened locks dost blow; | |
| Like the German goose-girl in the fairy tale, | |
| I watch across the shining pool my flock of ducks that sail. | |
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| Redly gleam the rose-haws, dripping with the wet, | |
| Fruit of sober autumn, glowing crimson yet; | 10 |
| Slender swords of iris leaves cut the water clear, | |
| And light green creeps the tender grass, thick-spreading far and near. | |
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| Every last year’s stalk is set with brown or golden studs; | |
| All the boughs of bayberry are thick with scented buds; | |
| Islanded in turfy velvet, where the ferns uncurl, | 15 |
| Lo! the large white duck’s egg glimmers like a pearl! | |
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| Softly sing the billows, rushing, whispering low; | |
| Freshly, oh, deliriously, the warm, wild wind doth blow! | |
| Plaintive bleat of new-washed lambs comes faint from far away; | |
| And clearly cry the little birds, alert and blithe and gay. | 20 |
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| O happy, happy morning! O dear, familiar place! | |
| O warm, sweet tears of Heaven, fast falling on my face! | |
| O well-remembered, rainy wind, blow all my care away, | |
| That I may be a child again this blissful morn of May. | | | | |
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