Originally written in 1850 and published in the Home Circle, a magazine edited by Pierce Egan the Younger (1814-80)

Ye by whom once the clear blue sky

And zephyrs of returning spring

Were hailed with joy, but now no more

Responses from the spirit bring—

Say, what has from such charms estranged?

The colour of the heart is changed.

No plant but feels her magic power:

The bursting buds, the brightn’ing tints,

Declare the virtue of her touch;

Her presence she on all things prints:

Oh, wake ye, wake! To hail her dawn!

The heart of its last joy is shorn.

Through nature’s veins the vital juice,

Begins to circulate anew,

And to the surface of each leaf

Restores, as erst, its living hue:

Why are ye only thus uncheered?

The freshness of the heart is seared!

The happy birds spring’s breath inhale,

And wake as to a second life;

Exuberant, burst forth in song

With new-born joy and gladness rife.

Rise! Rise! And with creation glow!

The heart is dead to all below!

Original citation: S.S.S. ‘The Sorrowful’, Home Circle, 20 July 1850, 40.