When April comes, and binds and girds
The world with warmth that breathes above,
And to the breeze flings all her birds,
Whose songs are welcome as the words
Of you I love, of you I love:
It's music for all things that woo,
And music for the heart!
And, oh, to be away with you
Beyond the town and mart.
"THE YEARS WHEREIN I NEVER KNEW."
The years, wherein I never knew
Such beauty as is yours,—so fraught
With truth and kindness looking through
Your loveliness,—I count them naught,
O girl, so like a lily wrought!
The years wherein I knew not you.
Ah, let me see you always so!—
A dream that haunts my memory's sight—
Your hair of moonlight, face of snow,
And eyes, blue stars of laughing light,
O girl, so like a lily white!
Through all the years that come and go.
True to you only, in my heart
I wear your spirit miniature,
Sincere in simpleness of art,
That makes my love to still endure,
O girl, so like a lily pure!
Through years that keep us still apart.