Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Spring Song" (1896)
Alark sits singing in the hedge;
Sweet perfumes scent the balmy air ,
And life is brimming everywhere .
What lark and breeze and bluebird sing ,
Is Spring, Spring, Spring!
No more the air is sharp and cold;
The planter wends across the wold,
And, glad, beneath the shining sky .
We wander forth,my love and I.
And ever in cur hearts doth ring
This song of Spring, Spring!
For life is life, and love is love,
Twixt ' maid and man or dove and dove.
Life may be short, life may be long,
But love will come, and to its song
Shall this refrain for ever cling
Of Spring, Spring, Spring!
Published in Lyrics of Lowly Life, 1896
Also published in Colored American Magazine, April 1908