Spring Harbingers

From sunny countries and skies blue From which last autumn-tide you flew, Return, dear birds, where you belong, Most welcome, you! The woods, bereft of leaf and song, Weep for they have missed you too long. In the eternal dome of azure Did you not dream with longside pleasure Of what you left? Did you not sigh For dear Home's leisure? Or cry when seeing in the sky The clouds that northwardly did hie? You sang to Nature paeans fraught With holiness, strangers you taught Our soulful doinas when, at times, Of us you thought. But did you tell them that their rhymes Excel all those of other climes? Now you come home - and you will see, Again, the wood, the field, the lea, Your nests in groves, so warm and deep; 'Tis summer, verily. I feel I have a mind to leap, To laugh for joy, for joy to weep! You come accompanied by flowers, By gentle winds and sun-warmed showers, And nights so rife with honey-dew, And cheerful hours. You thus take everything with you, And bring back everything anew.