Explore "The Parting and the Coming Guest (of Skies and Seasons)" by Henry Van Dyke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Who watched the worn-out Winter die? / Who, peering through the window-pane / At nightfall, under sleet and rain / Saw the old graybeard totter by? / Who listened to his parting sigh, / The sobbing of his feeble breath, / His whispered colloquy with Death, / And when his all of life was done / Stood near to bid a last good-bye? / Of all his former friends not one / Saw the forsaken Winter die.
Who welcomed in the maiden Spring? / Who heard her footfall, swift and light / As fairy-dancing in the night? / Who guessed what happy dawn would bring / The flutter of her bluebird's wing, / The blossom of her mayflower-face / To brighten every shady place? / One morning, down the village street, / "Oh, here am I," we heard her sing, -- / And none had been awake to greet / The coming of the maiden Spring.