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   1st Edition

   Prepared for the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center.

poetry; fiction; feminine LCSH

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Revisions to the electronic version
July 1997 corrector Craig A. Simmons

Added header and TEI.2 tags; parsed SGML tags; created digital images.

etextcenter@virginia.edu. Commercial use prohibited; all usage governed by our Conditions of Use: http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/conditions.html

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SPRING IN THE VALLEY.

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BY MARY AUSTIN.
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WHEN the catkin's on the willow
     And the tassel on the birch,
The wild bees from the having rocks
     Begin their honey search.


Brown wings among the browner grass
     And breast all brightening yellow --
Pipes up from meadows as we pass
     The lark's call, clear and mellow;
Now wakes the burnished dragonfly
     Beside the glinting river,
That shakes with silent laughter where
     The iris banners quiver;
Now on the budding poplar boughs
     The tuneful blackbirds perch:
For the catkin's on the willow
     And the tassel on the birch.


Now stalks the solemn crow behind
     The farmer in the furrow;
The downy owl comes out at dusk
     And hoots beside his burrow.
Now blows a balmy breath at morn
     To call men to the sowing;
Now all the waterways are full,
     And all the pastures growing;
Now truant anglers drop a line
     To catfish and to perch:
For the catkin's on the willow
     And the tassel on the birch.

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