April Gleams

April gleams !
Emerald upland pasture seems
A silent undulating sea :
Quietly
Twinkling, red as planet Mars,
A short shower's fallen stars
Gem the multitudinous blade ;
Daisy sprinkles every glade :
On a tree,
Rising silvern slenderly,
Young leaves, delicate as dreams,
Inhale the gleams,
April gleams !

Thin and rare,
Every leaf, a flake so fair.
Single inlays a pale blue air.
Where the tree
Rises highest o'er the lea ;
Lower all his leafy form
Stirs upon a mild grey sto/m,
Moving soft impearled with rays
From a winglike fringe of blaze.
Yonder pool
Shrines a skiey fleece of wool.
Unravelling mist, azure and gleams,
April gleams.

Faint and grey.
Far below me, far away,
Fades the landscape like a sea
Tenderly :
Cuckoo answering cuckoo-call,
Long low notes arise and fall,
Soft grey voices all in tune
With the hushed and bloomy swoon
Of the lea,
Fading far, a harmony
Of leaf and flower, of innocent glee,
Of turtle-coloured cloud and stream,
And tender tones and loving dream,
And April gleam !

Cuckoo-flowers,
Wet with slant of shiny showers
Rainbow-braided ! Very fair.
With a frail and fleeting air.
All the scene !
We remember what hath been :
It hath promise for the young ;
They who have lived over long
In the evanescent glory
Feel bewildering human story.
Love, with Friendship tender and true,
Hope and Life will vanish too.
Youth with Innocence ; all but seems ;
Glimmer a moment elfin dreams,
April gleams !

1872.