Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/103

Rh First snowflakes, and first May-flowers after snow;

The silver glow

Of the new moon's ethereal ring;

The song the morning stars together made,

And the first kiss of lovers under the first June shade.

V

My sword is quick, my arm is strong to smite

In the dread joy and fury of the fight.

I am with those who win, not those who fly;

With those who live I am, not those who die.

Who die? Nay, nay, that word

Where I am is unheard;

For I am the spirit of youth that cannot change,

Nor cease, nor suffer woe;

And I am the spirit of beauty that doth range

Through natural forms and motions, and each show

Of outward loveliness. With me have birth

All gentleness and joy in all the earth.

Raphael knew me, and showed the world my face;

Me Homer knew, and all the singing race—

For I am the spirit of light, and life, and mirth.

A SONG OF EARLY SUMMER

yet the orchard lifted

Its cloudy bloom to the sky,

Nor through the dim twilight drifted

The whippoorwill's low cry;

The gray rock had not made

Of the vine its glistening kirtle;

Nor shook in the locust shade

The purple bells of the "myrtle."