Page:Preludes, Meynell, 1875.djvu/17



IN EARLY SPRING.

, I know thee! Seek for sweet surprise

In the young children's eyes.

But I have learnt the years, and know the yet

Leaf-folded violet.

Mine ear, awake to silence, can foretell

The cuckoos fitful bell.

I wander in a grey time that encloses

June and the wild hedge-roses.

A year's procession of the flowers doth pass

My feet, along the grass.

And all you sweet birds silent yet, I know

The notes that stir you so,

Your songs yet half devised in the dim dear

Beginnings of the year.

In these young days you meditate your part;

I have it all by heart.