O Heart of Spring

John Shaw Neilson 1872 (Penola, South Australia) – 1942 (Melbourne, Victoria)



O HEART of Spring!   
 Spirit of light and love and joyous day,   
So soon to faint beneath the fiery Summer:   
Still smiles the Earth, eager for thee alway:   
Welcome art thou, soever short thy stay,           
Thou bold, thou blithe newcomer!   
Whither, O whither this thy journeying,   
 O heart of Spring?   
  
 O heart of Spring!   
After the stormy days of Winter’s reign,           
When the keen winds their last lament are sighing,   
The Sun shall raise thee up to life again:   
In thy dim death thou shalt not suffer pain:   
Surely thou dost not fear this quiet dying?   
Whither, O whither this thy journeying,           
 O heart of Spring?   
  
 O heart of Spring!   
Youth’s emblem, ancient and unchanging light,   
Uncomprehended, unconsumed, still burning:   
Oh that we could, as thou, rise from the night           
To find a world of blossoms lilac-white,   
And long-winged swallows unafraid returning…   
Whither, O whither this thy journeying,   
 O heart of Spring?

 

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

46 sec read
43

Quick analysis:

Scheme AbcxbcAA AdaxdaAA AeaeeaAA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 986
Words 154
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8

John Shaw Neilson

John Shaw Neilson was an Australian poet. Slightly built, for most of his life he worked as a labourer, fruit-picking, clearing scrub, navvying and working in quarries, and, after 1928, working as a messenger with the Country Roads Board in Melbourne. he died when he was 70 years old. more…

All John Shaw Neilson poems | John Shaw Neilson Books

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