LESSON 23 A WALK IN SPRING

A WALK IN SPRING

1. We had a pleasant walk to-day,

Over the meadows and far away,

Across the bridge by the water-mill,

By the woodside and up the hill;

And if you listen to what I say,

I'll tell you what we saw to-day.

2. Amid the hedge where the first leaves

Were peeping from their sheaths [1] so shy,

We saw four eggs within a nest,

And they were blue as the summer sky.

3. A willow-branch dipped in the brook,

We wondered why it moved, and found

A silken-haired smooth water-rat

Nibbling and swimming round and round.

4. Where daisies opened to the sun,

In a broad meadow, green and white,

The lambs were racing eagerly—

We never saw a prettier sight.

5. We found upon the shady banks

The first blue violets of spring;

We loitered [2] near a hawthorn hedge,

To hear a merry ploughman sing.

6. And, from the earth the plough turned up,

There came a sweet refreshing smell,

Such as the lily of the vale

Sends forth from many a woodland dell.

7. We saw the yellow wallflower wave,

Upon an old grey castle wall,

And then we watched the busy rooks

Among the ancient elm-trees tall.

8. And leaning from the old stone bridge,

Below we saw our shadows lie,

And through the gloomy arches watched

The swift and fearless swallows fly.

9. We heard the speckled-breasted lark

As it sang somewhere out of sight;

We tried to find it, but the sky

Was filled with clouds of dazzling [3] light.

10. Were I to tell you all we saw,

I'm sure that it would take me hours,

For the whole landscape [4] was alive

With bees, and birds, and buds, and flowers.

—THOMAS MILLER

* * *

[1] sheaths: Coverings.

[2] loitered: Stayed for a short time; lingered.

[3] dazzling: Too bright for the eye to gaze upon.

[4] landscape: The country spread out before us.