The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger

With rosy garlands round her feet,
With cherry buds above her brow.
With dewy garlands perfumed sweet,
The bright-eyed May is with us now.

The fairest link in all the chain
That binds old Winter unto Spring;
Her touch is balm to every pain
And joy to every living thing.

She came as comes an Eastern Queen,
A wealth of beauty round her flung:
The Earth unrolled its banners green,
With gold and crimson tassel hung.

The orange-buds from April's hair
Were strewn as incense round her way:
Her footsteps pressed a mantle rare
As Raleigh gave his queen one day.

The wild birds waited in the dell
To hear the music of her tone,
Then tuned their notes her praise to tell,
As minstrels round a monarch's throne.

The violets all their odors hid
From every winsome, wooing breeze,
But opened wide their casket's lid
To waft their fragrance to her knees.

The stars above shone forth more bright
When fair Queen May at midnight came,
While Earth re-echoed through the night
The music of her Sovereign's name.

The Day-god, as the clouds uprolled,
Looked down with love-enraptured eye,
And Jove-like, sent a shower of gold
To woo her to his arms on high.

Pass on, bright May! We know full soon
Thou'lt leave us for a brighter land
That even now thy lover, June,
Impatient waits to claim thy hand.

With him thou'lt leave the joys of Spring
To enter Summer's burning clime,
Forget thy sovereignty, to sing
Love's lowliest, tenderest, sweetest rhyme!

This, this is life, and May the token
Of every maiden young and fair,
In whose true heart each tie is broken
When Love assumes his empire there.

The passing year but mirrors life-
Its transient bliss, its fading bloom,
Its early dreams, its later strife.
The morning's glow, the evening's gloom:

Its Spring-time yearns for Summer's crown,
Its Summer envies Autumn's gain,
Stern Autumn strives to win renown,
When Winter snaps life's trembling chain!