Poetry Sunday: It Is Not Always May by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of the best known and best loved American poets of the 19th century, and though he wrote more than a hundred years ago, many of his poems seem just as current and fresh today. That would include this one, "It Is Not Always May." I have featured it before here on Poetry Sunday, but it struck me as particularly pertinent last week as I searched for a poem to highlight. "Carpe diem," the poet urges us in so many words because, as we all learn to our regret, youth is fleeting and cannot be recalled:

 "Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;
Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime,
 For oh, it is not always May!

It Is Not Always May

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

No hay pajaros en los nidos de antano. (Spanish proverb)

The sun is bright,--the air is clear,
  The darting swallows soar and sing.
And from the stately elms I hear
  The bluebird prophesying Spring. 
So blue yon winding river flows,
  It seems an outlet from the sky,
Where waiting till the west-wind blows,
  The freighted clouds at anchor lie. 
All things are new;--the buds, the leaves,
  That gild the elm-tree's nodding crest,
And even the nest beneath the eaves;--
   There are no birds in last year's nest! 
All things rejoice in youth and love,
   The fulness of their first delight!
And learn from the soft heavens above
   The melting tenderness of night. 
Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme,
   Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay;
Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime,
   For oh, it is not always May! 
Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth,
   To some good angel leave the rest;
For Time will teach thee soon the truth,
  There are no birds in last year's nest! 

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