The Crow

Hail, little herald! - Art thou then returning
From summer lands, this wild and wind-torn day?
Hast brought the word for which our hearts are yearning,
That spring is on the way?
Hark! Now there comes a clear, insistent calling,

From hill tops crested with untarnished snow;
The trumpet notes are drifting - floating - falling -
Whene'er the breezes blow!

"Winter is over, and the spring is coming!"
Glad is thy message, little page in black -
"Winter is over, and the spring is coming -
The spring is coming back!"

Tell me, 0 prophet, bird of sombre feather,
Who taught thee all the mysteries of spring? -
Didst note each passing mood of wind and weather,
While flying to the North on buoyant wing?

Or didst thou rest upon the bare brown branches
And hear the sap go singing through the trees? -
Didst watch with keen, far-seeing downward glances,
The leaves unlock their cells with fairy keys?

What though thy voice hath not a trace of sweetness
It thrills one through and through,
With promises of Joy in all completeness
What time the skies are blue.
When robins from the apple-trees are flinging
Out on the air their silver shower of song, -
In lilac days, when children run a-singing,
No single thought shall do thy memory wrong.

"Winter is over and the spring is coming!"
Sweet are thy tidings, little page in black -
"Winter is over and the spring is coming -
The spring is coming back!"

Virna Sheard

Virna Sheard was a Canadian poet and novelist associated with the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She gained recognition for her poetry collections such as 'The Miracle, and Other Poems' and 'A Sea of Sunset'. Her work often explored themes of love, spirituality, and the natural world. Apart from poetry, she also wrote several novels that contributed significantly to Canadian literature of her time.

Virna Sheard

The Slumber Angel

Virna Sheard, Simple Poetry

Request (To E. M.)

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The Gleaner

Virna Sheard, Simple Poetry

Paeans

Virna Sheard, Simple Poetry

English

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Spring.

On, like a giant, stalketh the strong Wind,
    Wrapping the clouds about him, close and dark,
Rifting Creation's soul, for rage is blind,--
    No pity hath he for the Earth all stark,
Shivering beneath the loose and drifting snow,
A scanty shroud to hide the dead below.

Dead? There is life within the mother's breast--
    So claspeth she her young ones to her heart;--
"The time will come--the time will come--rest! rest!
    Let the mad greybeard to his North depart;
Earth shall arise and mock him in his grave--
Patience a little, let the dotard rave!"

The palsied boughs grew still--there came a pause,
    And Nature's heart scarce beat for listening,
Gazing abroad from all the tempest-flaws,
    With prayerful longing for the saviour Spring;
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Spring

Et nunc omnis ager, mine omms parturit arbos;
Nunc frondent sylvæ, nunc formostssimus annus.
Virgil.

Delightful harbinger of joys to come,
Of summer's verdure and a fruitful year,
Who bids thee o'er our northern snow-fields roam,
And make all gladness in thy bright career?
Lo from the Indian Isle thou dost appear,
And dost a thousand pleasures with thee bring:
But why to us art thou so ever dear?
Bearest thou the hope upon thy radiant wing
Of Immortality, O soft, celestial Spring?

Yea, buds and flowers that fade not, they are thine,
And youth-renewing balms; the sear and old
Are young and gladsome at thy touch divine.
Thou breath'st upon the frozen earth behold,
Meadows and vales of grass and floral gold,
Green-covered hills and leafy m...

Hanford Lennox Gordon

When April Comes!

When April comes with softly shining eyes,
And daffodils bound in her wind-blown hair,
Oh, she will coax all clouds from out the skies,
And every day will bring some sweet surprise, -
The swallows will come swinging through the air
When April comes!

When April comes with tender smile and tear,
Dear dandelions will gild the common ways,
And at the break of morning we will hear
The piping of the robins crystal clear -
While bobolinks will whistle through the days,
When April comes!

When April comes, the world so wise and old,
Will half forget that it is worn and grey;
Winter will seem but as a tale long told -
Its bitter winds with all its frost and cold
Will be the by-gone things of yesterday,
When April comes!

Virna Sheard

Catkins

I.

Misty are the far-off hills
And misty are the near;
Purple hazes dimly lie
Veiling hill and field and sky,
Marshes where the hylas cry,
Like a myriad bills
Piping, "Spring is here!"

II.

A redbird flits,
Then sings and sits
And calls to his mate,
"She is late! she is late!
How long, how long must the woodland wait
For its emerald plumes
And its jewelled blooms?
She is late! she is late!"

III.

Along the stream,
A cloudy gleam,
The pussy-willows, tufted white,
Make of each tree a mighty light;
Pearl and silver and glimmering gray
They tassel the boughs of the willow way;
And as they swing they seem to say,
With mouths of bloom
And warm perfume:

IV.

"Awake! awa...

Madison Julius Cawein

Spring

Hark how the merry daffodils,
Fling golden music to the hills!
And how the hills send echoing down,
Through wind-swept turf and moorland brown,
The murmurs of a thousand rills
That mock the song-birds' liquid trills!
The hedge released from Winter's frown
Shews jewelled branch and willow crown;
While all the earth with pleasure trills,
And 'dances with the daffodils.'

Out, out, ye flowers!    Up and shout!
Staid Winter's passed and Spring's about
To lead your ranks in joyous rout;
To string the hawthorn's milky pearls,
And gild the grass with celandine;
To dress the catkins' tasselled curls,
To twist the tendrils of the vine.
She wakes the wind-flower from her sleep,
And lights the woods with April's moon;
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The Voice Of Spring

I heard a voice - twas the voice of Spring,
Up from the rivulets murmuring,
Singing of freedom, - thus the lay
On the breezes floated away -
        "Joy! joy! - the chains that bound us
            Now disappear,
        Sunlight pours its treasures round us,
            Warm, warm and clear,
        Onward, speeding onward
            To the bright main,
        Chainless, free, unfettered,
            Are we again!"

I heard a voice - 'twas the voice of Spring,
Out from the hill sides whispering,
And a tender strain from the woodland lone
Blended with it in murmurous tone -
        "Joy! joy! - the world is waking
            From her long rest, -
        Earth a glow of warmth is taking
            To her chill breast, -
        Ti...

Pamela S. Vining (J. C. Yule)