OLD ENGLISH SPRING
(Adapted from Harleian MS. 2253. Date, about 1200?)
I. That he will have none of Love.
Lent is come with Love to town,
Blossoms brag of his renown,
All their bliss that bringeth ;
Daisies in the dales
And the sweet nightingales
Each a song singeth.
The throstle cock doth verily know
Away is every Winter-woe
When the woodruff springeth ;
And he sings so wonder-well,
He frights the Winter fleet and fell,
That all the wood ringeth.
OLD ENGLISH SPRING
The rose is ruddy now,
Blossoms blow on the bough
Waxing with will ;
The moon mendeth her blee,
The lily is lissom to see
And the daffodil !
In May it is merry when it dawns
On the leas and on the lawns,
And leaf is light on the lime ;
On the waters the wild drakes
Go seeking of their makes—
For Love lives in the Prime !
Grass grows under sun and cloud,
Women wax wondrous proud
As meseemeth still ;
But my wish hath want of None
Nor would I live all woebegone
For Love that likes me ill !
II. He entreateth the North Wind to send him his Love.
Blow, Northern Wind,
Send thou me my sweeting ;
Blow, Northern Wind,
Blow, blow, blow !
OLD ENGLISH SPRING
I have a Burd in a bower bright
That is seemly unto sight,
And like roses red and white
Are her cheek and hand :
In all the world is none
Fairer ‘neath shadow or sun,
No, never knew I one
So lovely in the land !
Blow, Northern Wind,
Send thou me my sweeting ;
Blow, Northern Wind,
Blow, blow, blow !
HUGO LAUBACH.
43
MLA citation:
Laubach, Hugo. “Old English Spring.” The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal, vol. 1, Spring 1895, pp. 41-43. Evergreen Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, 2016-2018. Yellow Nineties 2.0, Ryerson University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2019. https://1890s.ca/egv1_laubach_spring/