APRIL
by: Edward Carpenter (1844-1929)
- APRIL,
month of Nymphs and Fauns and Cupids,
- Month of the Sungod's kisses, Earth's sweet passion,
- Of fanciful winds and showers;
- Apollo, glorious over hill and dale
- Ethereally striding; grasses springing
- Rapt to his feet, buds bursting, flowers out-breathing
- Their liberated hearts in love to him.
-
- (The little black-cap garrulous on the willow
- Perching so prim, the crested chaffinch warbling,
- And primrose and celandine, anemone and daisy,
- Starring the tender herb which lambs already nibble.)
-
- Month of all-gathering warmth,
- Of breathless moments, hotter and hotter growing--
- Smiles turned to fire, kisses to fierce earnest--
- Of sultry swoons, pauses, and strange suspense
- (Clouds and daemonic thunder through the blue vault threateningly
rolling);
- Then the delirious up-break--the great fountains of the deep,
in Sex,
- Loosened to pouring failing rushing waters;
- Shafts of wild light; and Sky and Earth in one another's
arms
- Melted, and all of Heaven spent in streams of love
- Towards the Loved one.
"April" is reprinted from
Towards Democracy. London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1911. |
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