为丁香花季节而歌唱

Warble me now for joy of lilac-time,

(returning in reminiscence,)

Sort me O tongue and lips for Nature’s sake, souvenirs of earliest summer,

Gather the welcome signs,

(as children with pebbles¹ or stringing shells,)

Put in April and May, the hylas croaking² in the ponds, the elastic³ air,

Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,

Blue bird and darting⁴ swallow, nor forget the high-hole flashing his golden wings,

The tranquil⁵ sunny haze⁶, the clinging smoke, the vapor⁷,

Shimmer⁸ of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above,

All that is jocund⁹ and sparkling, the brooks¹⁰ running,

The maple¹¹ woods, the crisp February days and the sugar-making,

The robin¹² where he hops¹³, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,

With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset,

Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest of his mate,

The melted snow of March, the willow¹⁴ sending forth¹⁵ its yellow-green sprouts¹⁶,

For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it?

Thou, soul, unloosen’d—the restlessness after I know not what;

Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away!

O if one could but fly like a bird!

O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship!

To glide¹⁷ with thee O soul, o’er all, in all as a ship O’er the waters;

Gathering¹⁸ these hints, the preludes¹⁹, the blue sky, the grass, the morning drops of dew,

The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark green heart-shaped leaves,

Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence²⁰,

Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,

To grace the bush I love—to sing with the birds,

A warble for joy of lilac-time, returning in reminiscence.