I.

Ethereal Daughter of the lusty Spring ,
And sweet Favonius , ever-gentle M AY !
Shall I, unblam'd, presume of Thee to sing,
And with thy living Colours gild my Lay?
Thy genial Spirit mantles in my Brain;
My Numbers languish in a softer Vein:
I pant, too emulous, to flow in Spenser 's Strain.

II.

Say, mild Aurora of the blooming Year,
With Storms when Winter blackens Nature's Face;
When whirling Winds the howling Forest tear,
And shake the solid Mountains from their Base:
Say, what refulgent Chambers of the Sky
Veil thy beloved Glories from the Eye,
For which the Nations pine, and Earth's fair Children die?

III.

Where Leda's Twins , forth from their Diamond-Tow'r,
Alternate, o'er the Night their Beams divide;
In Light embosom'd, happy, and secure
From Winter-Rage, thou chusest to abide.
Blest Residence! For, there , as Poets tell,
The Power's of Poetry and Wisdom dwell;
Apollo wakes the Arts; the Muses strike the Shell.

IV.

Certes o'er Rbedicyna's laurel'd Mead,
(For ever spread, ye Laurels, green and new!)
The Brother-Stars their gracious Nurture shed,
And secret Blessings of Poetic-Dew.
They bathe their Horses in the learned Flood,
With Flame recruited for th' aethereal Road;
And deem fair Isis ' Swans fair as their Father-God .

V.

No sooner April , trim'd with Girlands gay,
Rains Fragrance o'er the World, and kindly Showrs;
But, in the Eastern-Pride of Beauty, May ,
To gladden Earth, forsakes her heav'nly Bow'rs,
Restoring Nature from her palsy'd State.
April , retire; ne longer, Nature, wait:
Soon may she issue from the Morning's golden Gate.