Ballads : patriotic & romantic / by Clinton Scollard [electronic text]

MAY BY AVON-SIDE

Now should you stray by Avon-side This Maytime of the year, In Charlecote Park will sing the lark, And roam the fallow deer; And the white plume of hawthorn bloom, The fair web of earth's wonder-loom, Make lovely Warwickshire!

And should you stray through Strafford streets When home the good folk throng, And shadows flit, and lights are lit The winding ways along, From out the casements open thrown, A-down the twilight breezes blown, Will soar the sound of song!

And should you stray through Trinity close To bow in praise or prayer, Where elm trees braid their shine and shade In the soft Avon air, Whether it be by stream or street, Or where the minster arches meet, His spirit will be there!

Shakespeare, of the immortal phrase, Of deathless rhythm and rhyme, Above the transitory days Still radiant and sublime, The glory of whose fame and name Is limned as by a torch of flame Upon the walls of Time!