NOW comes the blossoming. At Beauty’s birth
    Promise is brought to proud accomplishment,
And all things hymn the glory of the earth
    In this great symphony so subtly blent
    Of sight and sound and scent,
Weaving with all a note of carefree mirth,
Singing of sudden riches, boundless worth,
    Now to be freely spent.

Upon the hills the gum-leaves wink and shine:
    The wattle has put off her bridal dress
To droop brown tresses delicately fine;
    And every window frames some loveliness
    Too potent to express:
Of roses burning by the trellised vine,
Of poppy, clematis and columbine
    And flowers born to bless.

Now glowing day succeeds each dewy night,
    And beauty shouts in every living thing.
Across the pool’s still face, in frantic flight,
    The dragon-flies flash by. Now well a-wing,
    The nestlings learn to sing;
And, as the chorus gathers to its height,
All nature joins the paean of delight.
    This is the blossoming.