Are just set out to meet the sea.
The year’s departing beauty hides
Of wintry storms the sullen threat,
But in thy sternest frown abides
A look of kindly promise yet.
Thou bring’st the hope of those calm skies,
And that soft hue of many showers,
When the wide bloom on earth that lies
Seems of a brighter world than ours.
How graphically does the author of the “Fairie Queene” marshal this harbinger of Spring, in the noble march of the Seasons —