“March Waking,” by J. Elizabeth Gostwycke Roberts

Roberts, J. Elizabeth Gostuycke [sic]. “March Waking.” Bedford’s Magazine 6 (March 1891): 601.

March Waking

Before the dawn, when birds crouch close together,
   A soundless silvery stir the silence breaks;
So through the grayness of this mid-march weather
          Something wakes.

No green has sprung between the withered grasses,
   No blossom stars the roadside’s mossy miles,
Yet from the fields the frozen bareness passes;
          Something smiles.

Not yet, not yet, the time of song’s full cheering;
   Expectant silence all my heart enthralls;
Out of the woods and through the lonely clearing,
          Something calls.