Last Poems (Housman)/Spring Morning

by Alfred Edward Housman

XVI
Spring Morning

Star and coronal and bell
 April underfoot renews,
And the hope of man as well
 Flowers among the morning dews.

Now the old come out to look,
 Winter past and winter's pains,
How the sky in pool and brook
 Glitters on the grassy plains.

Easily the gentle air
 Wafts the turning season on;
Things to comfort them are there,
 Though 'tis true the best are gone.

Now the scorned unlucky lad
Rousing from his pillow gnawn
Mans his heart and deep and glad
Drinks the valiant air of dawn.

Half the night he longed to die,
 Now are sown on hill and plain
Pleasures worth his while to try
 Ere he longs to die again.

Blue the sky from east to west
 Arches, and the world is wide,
Though the girl he loves the best
 Rouses from another's side.