Nightfall and morrow
Bring nigher the boy
Whom wanting we want not sorrow,
Whom having we want no joy.
Clearer and clearer
The sweet sense grows
Of the word which hath summer for hearer,
The word on the lips of the rose.
Duskily dwindles
Each deathlike day,
Till June rearising rekindles
The depth of the darkness of May.
XXVI
"In his bright radiance and collateral light
Must I be comforted, not in his sphere."
Stars in heaven are many,
Suns in heaven but one:
Nor for man may any
Star supplant the sun.
Many a child as joyous
As our far-off king
Meets as though to annoy us
In the paths of spring.
Sure as spring gives warning,
All things dance in tune:
Sun on Easter morning,
Cloud and windy moon,
Stars between the tossing
Boughs of tuneful trees,
Sails of ships recrossing
Leagues of dancing seas;
Best, in all this playtime,
Best of all in tune,
Girls more glad than Maytime,
Boys more bright than June;