The Spring’s Awakening

Awake, O Earth! Thy slumbering petals close, And spread again their velvet coatings fair; The sunlight cometh warm upon thy brow, And laughs, and lingers on the dream of air.

The daffodils are opening in the glade,
The violet peeps from underneath the leaf, The crocus lifts its head among the shade, And all the world rejoices in relief.

The frost hath lost its grizzly grip, and fled, The stubborn snowdrops, bowing on the ground, Rise flushed with love, and all the first is said, That harkens back to what the cold has bound.

Awake, O Earth! The streaming light declares, The bees are buzzing, in their golden lace, And even ancient oaks renew their airs, As Nature stirs and wakes from sleep’s embrace.

• Constance Fennell