Classic Poem

Come, merry May, on this first day
That gives thee to us yearly:
Nothing like thee, so constantly
Is loved, and still so dearly.
Come, merry May, with robe & ray
And royal gift & bounty.
Honours due we now renew
In every English County.

The trees were stirr'd by the wakeful bird
All night, to give thee greeting.
My dreaming heart with a thrill & a start
Could hear its leafy tweeting.
The trees were stirr'd & the cock was heard
So blithely bravely crowing:
Leap full-born, from the breast of the morn,
Thy lavish treasures showing.

Chill breathes the West on the dawning breast
Where thou, a bud, art blooming.
Over fell, over flood, ope[s] blooming bud,
Thy wished shape assuming.
Warm breathes the West, & from its nest
The lark spins up to hail thee;
Over dale, over down, come, gather the crown
Of flowers that never fail thee!