God-Speed to the Snow

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2><SPAN name="GOD-SPEED_TO_THE_SNOW" id="GOD-SPEED_TO_THE_SNOW"></SPAN>GOD-SPEED TO THE SNOW</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">March is slain; the keen winds fly;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Nothing more is thine to do;<br/></span> <span class="i0">April kisses thee good-bye;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Thou must haste and follow too;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Silent friend that guarded well<br/></span> <span class="i0">Withered things to make us glad,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Shyest friend that could not tell<br/></span> <span class="i0">Half the kindly thought he had.<br/></span> <span class="i0">Haste thee, speed thee, O kind snow;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Down the dripping valleys go,<br/></span> <span class="i0">From the fields and gleaming meadows,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Where the slaying hours behold thee,<br/></span> <span class="i0">From the forests whose slim shadows,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Brown and leafless cannot fold thee,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Through the cedar lands aflame<br/></span> <span class="i0">With gold light that cleaves and quivers,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Songs that winter may not tame,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Drone of pines and laugh of rivers.<br/></span> <span class="i0">May thy passing joyous be<br/></span> <span class="i0">To thy father, the great sea,<br/></span> <span class="i0">For the sun is getting stronger;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Earth hath need of thee no longer;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Go, kind snow, God-speed to thee!<br/></span></div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />