Seasons

I heard the forest's green heart beat As if it heard the happy feet Of one who came, like young Desire: At whose fair coming birds and flowers Sprang up, and Beauty, filled with fire, Touched lips with Song amid the bowers And Love led on the dancing Hours. II. And then I heard a voice that rang, And to the leaves and blossoms sang: 'My child is Life: I dwell with Truth: I am the Spirit glad of Birth: I bring to all things joy and youth: I am the rapture of the Earth. Come look on me and know my worth.' III. And then the woodland heaved a sigh, As if it saw a shape go by A shape of sorrow or of dread, That seemed to move as moves a mist, And left the leaves and flowers dead, And with cold lips my forehead kissed, While phantoms all around held tryst. IV. And then I heard a voice that spoke Unto the fading beech and oak: 'I am the Spirit of Decay, Whose child is Death, that means relief: I breathe and all things pass away: I am Earth's glory and its grief. Come look on me: thy time is brief.'