Poems (Coates 1916)/Volume I/Near and Far

THE air is full of perfume and the promise of the spring,
From wintry mould the dainty blossoms come;
There's not a bird in all the boughs but's eager now to sing,
And from afar a ship is sailing home!

The cherry-blooms, all lightly blown about the verdant sward,
With silver fleck the dandelion's gold;
The jasmine and arbutus breathe the fragrance they have stored;
The crumpled ferns, like faery tents, unfold.

And low the rills are laughing, and the rivers in the sun
Are gliding on, impatient for the sea;
The wintry days are past and gone, the summer is begun,
And love from far is sailing home to me!

​Ah, blessed spring!—how far more sweet than any spring of yore!
No note of all thy harmonies is dumb;
With thee my heart awakes to hope and happiness once more,—
And from afar a ship is sailing home!