Firstlings

Firstlings

1(January 7, 1915)
2In the dregs of the year, all steam and rain,
3In the timid time of the heart again,
4When indecision is bold and thorough,
5And action dreams of a dawn in vain,
6I saw high up over Bloxham vale
7The ploughshare tilt to the next long trail,
8And, spying a larder in every furrow,
9The wagtails crowd like a dancing hail!
10A second wonder there on the hill:
11Beneath the hedge, I saw with a thrill
12The budding primroses laugh good-morrow
13From a deep cradle rocked by a rill!
14Wagtail smart in his belted blue,
15Primrose paying her gold ere due,--
16(Out upon Winter! Down with Sorrow!)
17These are the things that I know are true.
Publication Notes
Guiney, Louise Imogen, Happy Endings: The Collected Lyrics of Louise Imogen Guiney (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1927): 179.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
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