Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
To Spring: On the Banks of the CamWilliam Stanley Roscoe (17821843)
O
Com’st in thy tender robes with bashful feet,
And to the gathering clouds
Liftest thy soft blue eye:
In misty ringlets sweep thy snowy breast,
And thy young lips deplore
Stern Boreas’ ruthless rage:
Drops from the green boughs of the budding trees;
And the thrush tunes his song
Warbling with unripe throat:
I follow thee, and see thy hands unfold
The love-sick primrose pale
And moist-eyed violet:
The Dryads start forth from their wintry cells,
And from their oozy waves
The Naiads lift their heads
And water-blossoms from the forest stream,
To pay their vows to thee,
Their thrice adorèd queen!
Startles the linnet from her downy nest,
Or wreathes his crook with flowers,
The sweetest of the fields.
The stock-dove pours her vernal elegy,
While further down the vale
Echoes the cuckoo’s note.
When the wild laurel rustles in the breeze,
By Cam’s slow murmuring stream
I waste the live-long day;
Till my loved Maid in russet stole approach:
O yield her to my arms,
Her red lips breathing love!
And on thy blue eyes pour a beam of joy;
And float thy azure locks
Upon the western wind.
And Hesper early light his dewy star;
And oft at eventide
Beneath the rising moon,
And as they steal the soft impassion’d kiss,
Confess thy genial reign,
O love-inspiring Spring!