Alfred Edward Housman

Last Poems. 16. Spring Morning

Star and coronal and bell
        April underfoot renews,
And the hope of man as well
        Flowers among the morning dews.

Now the old come out to look,
        Winter past and winter’s pains,
How the sky in pool and brook
        Glitters on the grassy plains.

Easily the gentle air
        Wafts the turning season on;
Things to comfort them are there,
        Though ’tis true the best are gone.

Now the scorned unlucky lad
        Rousing from his pillow gnawn
Mans his heart and deep and glad
        Drinks the valiant air of dawn.

Half the night he longed to die,
        Now are sown on hill and plain
Pleasures worth his while to try
        Ere he longs to die again.

Blue the sky from east to west
        Arches, and the world is wide,
Though the girl he loves the best
        Rouses from another’s side.