Now fades the last long streak of snow,

Now burgeons every maze of quick

About the flowering squares, and thick

By ashen roots the violets blow.



Now rings the woodland loud and long,

The distance takes a lovelier hue,

And drowned in yonder living blue

The lark becomes a sightless song.



Now dance the lights on lawn and lea,

The flocks are whiter down the vale,

And milkier every milky sail,

On winding stream or distant sea;



Where now the seamew pipes, or dives

In yonder greening gleam, and fly

The happy birds, that change their sky

To build and brood, that live their lives



From land to land; and in my breast

Spring wakens too: and my regret

Become an April violet,

And buds and blossoms like the rest.