A Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick






23. FAREWELL FROST, OR WELCOME SPRING

     Fled are the frosts, and now the fields appear
     Reclothed in fresh and verdant diaper;
     Thaw'd are the snows; and now the lusty Spring
     Gives to each mead a neat enamelling;
     The palms put forth their gems, and every tree
     Now swaggers in her leafy gallantry.
     The while the Daulian minstrel sweetly sings
     With warbling notes her Terean sufferings.
     —What gentle winds perspire!  as if here
     Never had been the northern plunderer
     To strip the trees and fields, to their distress,
     Leaving them to a pitied nakedness.
     And look how when a frantic storm doth tear
     A stubborn oak or holm, long growing there,—
     But lull'd to calmness, then succeeds a breeze
     That scarcely stirs the nodding leaves of trees;
     So when this war, which tempest-like doth spoil
     Our salt, our corn, our honey, wine, and oil,
     Falls to a temper, and doth mildly cast
     His inconsiderate frenzy off, at last,
     The gentle dove may, when these turmoils cease,
     Bring in her bill, once more, the branch of Peace.

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