| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | In Absence | | By Mrs. Anna Maria Lowell |
| | | THESE rugged wintry days I scarce could bear, | |
| Did I not know, that, in the early spring, | |
| When wild March-winds upon their errands sing, | |
| Thou wouldst return, bursting on this still air, | |
| Like those same winds, when, startled from their lair, | 5 |
| They hunt up violets, and free swift brooks | |
| From icy cares, even as thy clear looks | |
| Bid my heart bloom and sing and break all care: | |
| When drops with welcome rain the April day, | |
| My flowers shall find their April in thine eyes, | 10 |
| Save there the rain in dreamy clouds doth stay, | |
| As loath to fall out of those happy skies; | |
| Yet sure, my love, thou art most like to May, | |
| That comes with steady sun when April dies. | | | | |
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