Warble For Lilac-Time

　　为丁香花季节而歌唱

　　Warble me now for joy of lilac-time,

　　(returning in reminiscence,)

　　Sort me O tongue and lips for Nature’s sake, souvenirs of earliest summer,

　　Gather the welcome signs,

　　(as children with pebbles¹ or stringing shells,)

　　Put in April and May, the hylas croaking² in the ponds, the elastic³ air,

　　Bees, butterflies, the sparrow with its simple notes,

　　Blue bird and darting⁴ swallow, nor forget the high-hole flashing his golden wings,

　　The tranquil⁵ sunny haze⁶, the clinging smoke, the vapor⁷,

　　Shimmer⁸ of waters with fish in them, the cerulean above,

　　All that is jocund⁹ and sparkling, the brooks¹⁰ running,

　　The maple¹¹ woods, the crisp February days and the sugar-making,

　　The robin¹² where he hops¹³, bright-eyed, brown-breasted,

　　With musical clear call at sunrise, and again at sunset,

　　Or flitting among the trees of the apple-orchard, building the nest of his mate,

　　The melted snow of March, the willow¹⁴ sending forth¹⁵ its yellow-green sprouts¹⁶,

　　For spring-time is here! the summer is here! and what is this in it and from it?

　　Thou, soul, unloosen’d—the restlessness after I know not what;

　　Come, let us lag here no longer, let us be up and away!

　　O if one could but fly like a bird!

　　O to escape, to sail forth as in a ship!

　　To glide¹⁷ with thee O soul, o’er all, in all as a ship O’er the waters;

　　Gathering¹⁸ these hints, the preludes¹⁹, the blue sky, the grass, the morning drops of dew,

　　The lilac-scent, the bushes with dark green heart-shaped leaves,

　　Wood-violets, the little delicate pale blossoms called innocence²⁰,

　　Samples and sorts not for themselves alone, but for their atmosphere,

　　To grace the bush I love—to sing with the birds,

　　A warble for joy of lilac-time, returning in reminiscence.