To My Sister

IN MARCH 1865 A double worship hath the spring, my dear, Triumph, and joy, and sweetness more than wont, For, standing on the threshold of the year, Your life's star shines, full in her flowery front. For you, the blessed sun again doth pour His golden bounty over hill and dale, And shouting loud for joy, from Heaven's blue floor, The glad wind sweeps the watery vapours pale. For you, thro' the thorn lattice of the hedge, The primrose, sitting on thick tufted leaves, Peers smiling, and each smooth and lustrous wedge Of sheathed green, the earth's brown bosom cleaves. Each saffron-tinted cup, and snowy bell, Starts up to cry you hail, with pleasant cheer, And thro' the woods the buds make haste to swell, To spread your leafy tap'stry far and near. There's not a blade of grass that quivers light In the pure air, but seems to me to say, 'O loving heart! O spirit brave and bright! For you the fields again shall be made gay.' To gild your head the evening stars do shine, To kiss your feet the morning daisies blow, To fill your soul with bliss the breath divine Of God's great goodness doth the world o'erflow. Beloved! the sweet pageant of the year Its lovely homage all to you doth bring, And the whole air rings with rejoicings clear, And the whole earth bursts forth in blossoming, That you are living yet to see the Spring!