Читать книгу Collected Poems: Volume One - Alfred Noyes - Страница 37

Table of Contents

I

Whither away is the Spring to-day?

To England, to England!

In France they heard the South wind say,

"She's off on a quest for a Queen o' the May,

So she's over the hills far away,

To England!"

And why did she fly with her golden feet

To England, to England?

In Italy, too, they heard the sweet

Roses whisper and flutter and beat—

"She's an old and a true, true love to greet

In England!"

A moon ago there came a cry

From England, from England,

Faintly, fondly it faltered nigh

The throne of the Spring in the Southern sky,

And it whispered "Come," and the world went by,

And with one long loving blissful sigh

The Spring was away to England!

II

When Spring comes back to England

And crowns her brows with May,

Round the merry moonlit world

She goes the greenwood way:

She throws a rose to Italy,

A fleur-de-lys to France;

But round her regal morris-ring

The seas of England dance.

When Spring comes back to England

And dons her robe of green,

There's many a nation garlanded

But England is the Queen;

She's Queen, she's Queen of all the world

Beneath the laughing sky,

For the nations go a-Maying

When they hear the New Year cry—

"Come over the water to England,

My old love, my new love,

Come over the water to England,

In showers of flowery rain; Come over the water to England,

April, my true love;

And tell the heart of England

The Spring is here again!"

III

So it's here, she is here with her eyes of blue

In England, In England!

She has brought us the rainbows with her, too,

And a glory of shimmering glimmering dew

And a heaven of quivering scent and hue

And a lily for me and a rose for you

In England.

There's many a wanderer far away

From England, from England,

Will toss upon his couch and say—

Though Spain is proud and France is gay,

And there's many a foot on the primrose way,

The world has never a Queen o' the May

But England.

IV

When Drake went out to seek for gold

Across the uncharted sea,

And saw the Western skies unfold

Their veils of mystery;

To lure him through the fevered hours

As nigh to death he lay,

There floated o'er the foreign flowers

A breath of English May:

And back to Devon shores again

His dreaming spirit flew

Over the splendid Spanish Main

To haunts his childhood knew,

Whispering "God forgive the blind

Desire that bade me roam,

I've sailed around the world to find

The sweetest way to home."

V

And it's whither away is the Spring to-day?

To England, to England!

In France you'll hear the South wind say,

"She off on a quest for a Queen o' the May,

So she's over the hills and far away,

To England!"

She's flown with the swallows across the sea

To England, to England!

For there's many a land of the brave and free

But never a home o' the hawthorn-tree,

And never a Queen o' the May for me

But England!

And round the fairy revels whirl

In England, in England!

And the buds outbreak and the leaves unfurl,

And where the crisp white cloudlets curl

The Dawn comes up like a primrose girl

With a crowd of flowers in a basket of pearl

For England!