A Dark Month | Page 6

the best less brittle,?No praise, were it wide as earth,?Is worth so much as a little?Child's love may be worth.
We see the children above us?As they might angels above:?Come back to us, child, if you love us,?And bring us your love.
XXX
No time for books or for letters:?What time should there be??No room for tasks and their fetters:?Full room to be free.
The wind and the sun and the Maytime?Had never a guest?More worthy the most that his playtime?Could give of its best.
If rain should come on, peradventure,?(But sunshine forbid!)?Vain hope in us haply might venture?To dream as it did.
But never may come, of all comers?Least welcome, the rain,?To mix with his servant the summer's?Rose-garlanded train!
He would write, but his hours are as busy?As bees in the sun,?And the jubilant whirl of their dizzy?Dance never is done.
The message is more than a letter,?Let love understand,?And the thought of his joys even better?Than sight of his hand.
XXXI
Wind, high-souled, full-hearted?South-west wind of the spring!?Ere April and earth had parted,?Skies, bright with thy forward wing,?Grew dark in an hour with the shadow behind it, that bade not a
bird dare sing.
Wind whose feet are sunny,?Wind whose wings are cloud,?With lips more sweet than honey?Still, speak they low or loud,?Rejoice now again in the strength of thine heart: let the depth of
thy soul wax proud.
We hear thee singing or sighing,?Just not given to sight,?All but visibly flying?Between the clouds and the light,?And the light in our hearts is enkindled, the shadow therein of the
clouds put to flight.
From the gift of thine hands we gather?The core of the flowers therein,?Keen glad heart of heather,?Hot sweet heart of whin,?Twin breaths in thy godlike breath close blended of wild spring's
wildest of kin.
All but visibly beating?We feel thy wings in the far?Clear waste, and the plumes of them fleeting,?Soft as swan's plumes are,?And strong as a wild swan's pinions, and swift as the flash of the
flight of a star.
As the flight of a planet enkindled?Seems thy far soft flight?Now May's reign has dwindled?And the crescent of June takes light?And the presence of summer is here, and the hope of a welcomer
presence in sight.
Wind, sweet-souled, great-hearted?Southwest wind on the wold!?From us is a glory departed?That now shall return as of old,?Borne back on thy wings as an eagle's expanding, and crowned with
the sundawn's gold.
There is not a flower but rejoices,?There is not a leaf but has heard:?All the fields find voices,?All the woods are stirred:?There is not a nest but is brighter because of the coming of one
bright bird.
Out of dawn and morning,?Noon and afternoon,?The sun to the world gives warning?Of news that brightens the moon;?And the stars all night exult with us, hearing of joy that shall
come with June.
{Transcriber's note:
The line in number VII
To far outshines the sun,
appears thus in the original. It may be a misprint.}
End of Project Gutenberg's A Dark Month, by Algernon Charles Swinburne
? END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A DARK MONTH ***
? This file should be named 18524.txt or 18524.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
? http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/5/2/18524/
Produced by Louise Pryor, Paul Murray and the Online?Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license, especially commercial?redistribution.
? START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE?PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright) agreement. If