Poem by Clinton Scollard

May in Umbria

  (Lyrics of the Dawn)

Say, O wander-lover, say,
What is May in Umbria?

Days that never dim nor darkle;
Nights that spangle, nights that sparkle;
Dawns that flame with burnished splendor;
Eves that melt in raptures tender;
Noons that glow with sapphire burning;
Singing waters seaward yearning;
Shouting weir and lilting shallow;
Green on fertile field and fallow;
Grain in ripples, grain in billows;
Silvery poplars, silvery willows;
Music-making contadini;
Glossy curls and dark eyes sheeny;
Nightingales in copse and clover,
Each a little lyric lover;
Cuckoo-gossips never quiet;
Blossom-revel, blossom-riot;
Every breeze abrim with fragrance
From the hill and valley vagrants;
Roses in the tangled coppice,
Privet, pimpernel and poppies;

Harebells, thyme in purple stretches;
Vervain, violets and vetches;
Stately corn-flags hued as fire is;
Honeysuckle, orchid, iris —
Web as delicate and dear as
Ever Shah beheld in Shiraz;
And through all, above and under,
Something moving like a wonder,
Something vigorous and vernal,
Evanescent, yet eternal!

Such, the wander-lovers say,
Such is May in Umbria.

1. The Mist and the Sea
2. Night Song by the Sea
3. The Way of the Cross
4. The Wind of Mourne
5. The Hunter

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