Poem of the Day

High days

The soote* season, that bud and bloom forth brings,
With green hath clad the hill and eke* the vale;
The nightingale with feathers new she sings,
The turtle to her make* hath told her tale.
Summer is come, for every spray now springs,
The hart hath hung his old head on the pale,
The buck in brake his winter coat he flings,
The fishes float with new repairéd scale,
The adder all her slough away she slings,
The swift swallow pursueth the fliés small,
The busy bee her honey now she mings*—
Winter is worn that was the flowers' bale.*
And thus I see, among these pleasant things
Each care decays, and yet my sorrow springs.

—Henry Howard, Early of Surrey, “The Soote Season,” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 1, p. 451

1. Soote: sweet, fragrant

2. eke: increase or enlarge

3. make: mate

4. mings: mingles

5. bale: harm