Like flights of singing-birds went by
The rosy hours of girlhood's day;
When in my native bowers,
Of simple buds and flowers,
They wove a crown and hailed me Queen of May!
Like airy nymphs the lasses came
Spring's offerings at my feet to lay;
The crystal from the fountains,
The green boughs from the mountains,
They brought to cheer and shade the Queen of May!
Around the May-pole on the green,
A fairy ring, they tript away! --
All merriment and pleasure,
To chords of tuneful measure,
They bounded by the happy Queen of May!
Though years have past, and time has strewn
My raven locks with flakes of gray,
Fond memory brings the hours
Of birds and blossom-showers,
When in girlhood I was crowned the Queen of May!