BLOSSOMFALL.
A Bong of Springtime in Summer.
GENTLEST Season I earth is rife With the signs and sounds of life, Life whose crescent age will soon Pass from Mayhood on to June, Month of mild maturity. Everywhere the seeing eye Marks how blossomed shrubs and trees, Baring their leafage to the breeze, Lay childhood's broidered robe aside And show the green with sober pride.
Sees the lush laburnum pour Tender rain of saffron shower. Cushioning the grass with gold Like the enamoured God of old When with coin ethereal he Filled the lap of Danae.
Sees the rhododendron-petal Slide off and on the green earth settle, Rifled by the battening bees Loitering hiveward through the trees.
Marks the frolic breeze of morn Shake the hoary-headed thorn Till it sheds its tinted snow On the earth that laughs below, Or woo the chestnut till she fling Largesse, then with winnowing Purge the sycamore and steal Both crimson chaff and golden meal.
Orchard blooms ephemeral Languish gently, gently fall ; And the airs that come by stealth To rob them of their flower- wealth (Tricksy Mercuries are they, Filching. in the face of day) Seem to whisper to each tree, " Sorrow not, for this must be, Ere the first of fruitage comes, Cherries crude and plumping plums ; 'Tie the autumn of the Spring, And we May-born breezes bring Tidings of the Summer's birth In strewing thus your blooms on earth ; Hyacinth and oxlip bell Have the self-same tale to tell, For to us they said 'twas so When we talked an hour ago In a dell of mossy floor
'Heath the sounding sycamore, Where the rich earth free from sod
Lets leap the slender jacinth-rod, Mid bracken-fronds of freshest sheen And tall fern-croziers, russet- green."
Gentlest season ! earth is teeming With sweet noises ; songsters gleaming 'Mong the leaves on winnowing wings Blend their whirr with mutter- ings Of the unseen rivulet Bickering on with fitful fret Of liquid chafing:, as it were Loath to leave a scene so fair ; While not a bush and not a tree But booms with insect minstrelsy; Quaint cuckoo leads the revelry, Like echo answering cry with cry. Lo, blackbird of the magic flute Sounds evensong when these are mute.
• " Une des bigendes lea plus repel:dues en Bretagne est celle d'une pritendue Title d'Is, qui, A use epoque income. auralt ete engloutie par la user:'—ReDan'a Nisavenus d'Entance St de Jeunesse."
And the day-long murmuring To down-fringe the languid eye Prompts the peerless thrush to Of the gently-drooping spring, spring Half a witching welcoming
Ladening the lingering airs her With a sweeter dirge than theirs ; Till the heavy eyelids close Said I dirge '—half lullaby In a rapturous repose.
And the day-long murmuring To down-fringe the languid eye To his nest-trees choicest spray, Of Summer, her beloved sister, And give his soul in song away, Who with dew-wet lips has kissed A. J. HUNTER.
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