Sing cheerily, O bluebird from on high!
Earth will be blue with violets by-and-by,
More blue than those you came from in the sky.
Haste, butterflies! for radiant Summer brings
A crimson rose to match your sunlit wings,
Brighter than violets the blue-bird sings.
Croon, happy insects; violet and rose
Have faded; yet the autumn corn-field glows
Where in the golden grain the poppy grows.
Hush, eager voices! for in dreamless sleep,
Wrapped in cool snow, the restless earth would keep
Forevermore serenity so deep.
Forevermore? nay, tired earth, not so;
Sweet as the violets of long ago
The pink arbutus rises from the snow.
Gathered too eagerly, it fades too soon;
Then large white lilies open wide in June
Their golden hearts up to the golden noon.
And when the perfect lily in the gleam
Of too much sunlight, fades like a fair dream,
The crimson cardinals fringe the brightening stream.
Then once again the softly falling snow;
While bright above the ivy green below
The scarlet berries of the holly glow.