Spring Delirium



Gold days give way to sudden rain,
But what, I ask, of that?
For I am my own man again,
And gloom comes sprawling flat.
Let grouchers grieve and nurse the hump
Because bleak winds still shout;
But I don't care a tupp'ny dump;
From zero - whoop! - my spirits jump:
The daffodils are out.

Hail bloom of golden promise!  Hail!
These trumpets sing of hope.
To mock grim Winter's weakening flail
  And shame the misanthrope.
All hail!  And hail again, for luck.
  Hence, cold and clammy doubt!
Come, Spring!  Come, honey-bee and suck;
Into this heady nector tuck!
The daffodils are out!

Spring for the young?  Ah, foolish claim.
Spring burgeons for the old,
To touch old hearts again with flame
And oust the creeping cold.
So, as each golden cup now spills
Its gladness all about,
I, freed again of age's ills,
Grow dilly with the daffodils.
The daffodils are out!

Yet, am I old?  Who said I'm old?
Ah, Spring's sweet alchemy!
Gaze now upon me and behold
A recharged battery.
I waggle my rheumatic knees
And, as the years I flout,
Hot blood incontinently flees
Along my hardening arteries
The daffodils are out!

Birds call; the buds grow fat; I sing
A daft, delicious lay.
Prim primulas are carpeting
My somewhat wobbly way.
Oh, vernal verve!  September's spree!
I laugh!  I sing!  I shout!
With dragonfly and drunken bee
I go right off my rocker.  Gee!
The wotsernames are out!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:16 min read
80

Quick analysis:

Scheme ababcdccD efefgdggD hihijdjjD ikikldllD mnmnkdkkd
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,337
Words 247
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 9, 9, 9, 9, 9

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis

 · 1876 · Auburn
 · 1938 · Melbourne

Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet known for his humorous poems, especially "The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke", published in the early 20th century. Though Dennis's work is less well known today, his 1915 publication of The Sentimental Bloke sold 65,000 copies in its first year, and by 1917 he was the most prosperous poet in Australian history. Together with Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, both of whom he had collaborated with, he is often considered among Australia's three most famous poets. While attributed to Lawson by 1911, Dennis later claimed he himself was the 'laureate of the larrikin'. When he died at the age of 61, the Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons suggested he was destined to be remembered as the 'Australian Robert Burns'. more…

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