Scherzo COME, sprite, and dance! The sun is up, | |
The wind runs laughing down the sky | |
That brims with morning like a cup. | |
Sprite, we must race him, | |
We must chase him— | 5 |
You and I! | |
And skim across the fuzzy heather— | |
You and joy and I together | |
Whirling by! | |
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You merry little roll of fat!— | 10 |
Made warm to kiss, and smooth to pat, | |
And round to toy with, like a cub; | |
To put one’s nozzle in and rub | |
And breathe you in like breath of kine, | |
Like juice of vine, | 15 |
That sets my morning heart a-tingling, | |
Dancing, jingling, | |
All the glad abandon mingling | |
Of wind and wine! | |
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Sprite, you are love, and you are joy, | 20 |
A happiness, a dream, a toy, | |
A god to laugh with, | |
Love to chaff with, | |
The sun come down in tangled gold, | |
The moon to kiss, and spring to hold. | 25 |
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There was a time once, long ago, | |
Long—oh, long since … I scarcely know. | |
Almost I had forgot … | |
There was a time when you were not, | |
You merry sprite, save as a strain, | 30 |
The strange dull pain | |
Of green buds swelling | |
In warm, straight dwelling | |
That must burst to the April rain. | |
A little heavy I was then, | 35 |
And dull—and glad to rest. And when | |
The travail came | |
In searing flame … | |
But, sprite, that was so long ago!— | |
A century!—I scarcely know. | 40 |
Almost I had forgot | |
When you were not. | |
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So, little sprite, come dance with me! | |
The sun is up, the wind is free! | |
Come now and trip it, | 45 |
Romp and skip it, | |
Earth is young and so are we. | |
Sprite, you and I will dance together | |
On the heather, | |
Glad with all the procreant earth, | 50 |
With all the fruitage of the trees, | |
And golden pollen on the breeze, | |
With plants that bring the grain to birth, | |
With beast and bird, | |
Feathered and furred, | 55 |
With youth and hope and life and love, | |
And joy thereof— | |
While we are part of all, we two— | |
For my glad burgeoning in you! | |
|
So, merry little roll of fat, | 60 |
Made warm to kiss and smooth to pat | |
And round to toy with, like a cub, | |
To put one’s nozzle in and rub, | |
My god to laugh with, | |
Love to chaff with, | 65 |
Come and dance beneath the sky, | |
You and I! | |
Look out with those round wondering eyes, | |
And squirm, and gurgle—and grow wise! | |