The Shepherd's Calendar - April

[Detail from Carry Akroyd’s linocut illustrating April from “The Shepherd’s Calendar 2007” published by Carcanet Publications]

The shepherds on thy pasture walks

The first fair cowslip finds

Whose tufted flowers on slender stalks

Keep nodding to the winds

And tho thy thorns withold the may

Their shades the violets bring

Which childern stoop for in their play

As tokens of the spring

The time when daiseys bloom divine

With thy calm hours begun

And crowflowers blazing blooms are thine

Bright childern of the sun

Along thy woodlands shaded nooks

The primrose wanly comes

And shining in thy pebley brooks

The horse bleb gaily blooms

The long lost charm of sparkling dew

Thy gentle birth receives

And on thy wreathing locks we view

The first infolding leaves

And seeking firstling buds and flowers

The trials of thy skill

Were pastimes of my infant hours

And so they haunt me still