May - A State of Mind

Early May in Concord MA

 With apologies to Dryden and his translation of the opening of  Lucretius' De Rerum Natura:
Delight of humankind, and gods above,
Parent of Rome; propitious Queen of Love,
Whose vital power, air, earth, and sea supplies,
And breeds whatever is born beneath the rolling skies:
For every kind, by thy prolific might,
Springs, and beholds the regions of the light.
Thee, Goddess, thee the clouds and tempests fear,
And at thy pleasing presence disappear:
For thee the land in fragrant flowers is dressed;
For thee the ocean smiles, and smooths her wavy breast;
And heaven itself with more serene and purer light is blessed.
For when the rising spring adorns the mead,
And a new scene of nature stands displayed,
When teeming buds, and cheerful greens appear,
And western gales unlock the lazy year:
The joyous birds thy welcome first express;
Whose native songs thy genial fire confess;
Then savage beasts bound over their slighted food,
Struck with thy darts, and tempt the raging flood.
All nature is thy gift; earth, air, and sea:
Of all that breathes~ the various progeny,
Stung with delight, is goaded on by thee.
Over barren mountains, over the flowery plain,
The leafy forest, and the liquid main
Extends thy uncontrolled and boundless reign.