Springtime

In celebration of the first day of spring, here is an extract from my favourite Middle English poem - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - describing the waning of winter and the coming of spring.

Bot thenne the weder of the worlde wyth wynter hit threpes,

Colde cleges adoun, cloudes uplyften,
Schyre schedes the rayn in schowres ful warme,
Falles upon fayre flat, flowres there schewen.
Both groundes and the greves grene ar her wedes,
Bryddes busken to bylde, and bremlych syngen
For solace of the softe somer that sues therafter
          bi bonk;
And blossumes bolne to blow
Bi rawes rych and ronk,
Then notes noble innoghe
Ar erde in wod so wlonk.

Modern English translation by moi:

But then the weather of the world with winter it contends,
Cold shrinks down, clouds drift away,
Brightly falls the rain in showers full warm,
Falling on fair fields, flowers there growing.
Both ground and groves, green are their weeds 
Birds begin to build, and bravely sing
For solace in the soft summer that follows thereafter
        on every bank
And blossoms swell to bloom
In the hedgerows rich and rank;
Then many notes noble enough
Are heard in the wood so glorious.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight l.504-515, in ed. A. C. Crawley Pearl, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Everyman, London 1970).