No. 12.
Spring returns, the glad new-comer,
Bringing pleasure, banning pain:
Meadows bloom with early summer,
And the sun shines out again:
All sad thoughts and passions vanish;
Plenteous Summer comes to banish
Winter with his starveling train.
Hails and snows and frosts together
Melt and thaw like dews away;
While the spring in cloudless weather
Sucks the breast of jocund May;
Sad's the man and born for sorrow
Who can live not, dares not borrow
Gladness from a summer's day.
Full of joy and jubilation,
Drunk with honey of delight,
Are the lads whose aspiration
Is the palm of Cupid's fight!
Youths, we'll keep the laws of Venus,
And with joy and mirth between us
Live and love like Paris wight!
The next has the same accent of gladness, though it is tuned to a somewhat softer and more meditative note of feeling.
THE SWEETNESS OF THE SPRING.
No. 13.
Vernal hours are sweet as clover,
With love's honey running over;
Every heart on this earth burning
Finds new birth with spring's returning.
In the spring-time blossoms flourish,
Fields drink moisture, heaven's dews nourish;
Now the griefs of maidens, after
Dark days, turn to love and laughter.