Seasons

I.     I heard the forest's green heart beat     As if it heard the happy feet     Of one who came, like young Desire:     At whose fair coming birds and flowers     Sprang up, and Beauty, filled with fire,     Touched lips with Song amid the bowers     And Love led on the dancing Hours. II.     And then I heard a voice that rang,     And to the leaves and blossoms sang:     "My child is Life: I dwell with Truth:     I am the Spirit glad of Birth:     I bring to all things joy and youth:     I am the rapture of the Earth.     Come look on me and know my worth." III.     And then the woodland heaved a sigh,     As if it saw a shape go by     A shape of sorrow or of dread,     That seemed to move as moves a mist,     And left the leaves and flowers dead,     And with cold lips my forehead kissed,     While phantoms all around held tryst. IV.     And then I heard a voice that spoke     Unto the fading beech and oak:     "I am the Spirit of Decay,     Whose child is Death, that means relief:     I breathe and all things pass away:     I am Earth's glory and its grief.     Come look on me: thy time is brief."