For Odour, Light, and Sound are Truthful Dreams

 Springtide
by Constance Naden 

 The silver birch, with pure-green flickering leaves,
 Flooded by morn with golden light, rejoices,
 And mingles with the kindred merriment
 Of perfume-laden winds and happy voices:
 No child of spring is lonely, but receives
 Some subtle charm, by diverse beauty lent,
 And with another life its own inweaves;
 E'en man's creative eyes win all their gain
 From light, whose glory, but for him, were vain.
 While bud the flowers, while May-tide sunshine beams,
 Through all the world of mind and body streams
 One constant rapture of melodious thought,
 One fragrant joy, with summer promise fraught,
 And one eternal love illumes the whole;
 For odour, light, and sound are truthful dreams,
 Inspired by Nature in the human soul.
 This fresh young life, whereof my own is part,
 With boundless hope all earth and heaven fills;
 The birds are waking music in my heart,
 A voiceless chant, more sweet than they can sing;
 My thoughts are sunbeams; all my being thrills
 With that exultant joy whose name is Spring.