Hark! the clarion March wind! its wild, defiant greeting
Rouses moor and forest, rouses hill and sea—
Stormy as the bugles that call when hosts are meeting,
Rich as notes from Alp to Alp when horns make jubilee!
Down the darkening sunset a single star is shining,
Lost as clouds drift landward off the ocean dim;
Dreary rise the mountains, against the gray reclining,
Wan as ghosts that silent steal where swells a funeral hymn.
Hark! the stately chorus! away, my soul's dejection!
Songs of summer warble through the glorious strain;
Every ringing cadence is a blast of resurrection,
Bold as blown by Israfil across some burial plain!
Sturdier stand the maples as past them rolls its pæen;
Thrill with joy the elm-boughs, swaying light and free;
Back to dell and garden come dreams of scents Sabean,
Back to brook and river-tide the splendors of the sea.
"Welcome!" sigh the leaf-buds, though chill its. rough caressing;
Hid in snow the crocus lifts a heart of gold;
May-flower and anemone know well its wrath is blessing,
Flushing faint for happiness in woodland moss and mould.
Hark! the clarion March wind! its wild, defiant greeting
Rouses moor and forest, rouses hill and sea—
Stormy as the bugles that call when hosts are meeting,
Rich as notes from Alp to Alp when horns make jubilee!
Wind of life! sweep onward; bring a world diviner;—
Laughing meadows, mountains soft in purple air;
Rosier dawns and twilights, suns and moons benigner,
All that heaven and earth can give to fashion April fair.
Nay, bring nobler courage; faith that never falters;
Bear our griefs with winter o'er the seas away;—
So in hope and gladness, beside our hearths and altars,
We will wait the coming of the blessed Easter Day!