TO THE SPRING
Welcome, gentle Stripling, nature’s darling thou! With thy basket full of blossoms, a happy welcome now! Aha! And thou returnest, heartily we greet thee. The loving and the fair one, merrily we meet thee! Think’st thou of my maiden, in thy heart of glee? I love her yet, the maiden. And the maiden yet loves me! For the maiden, many a blossom, I begged–and not in vain! I came again a-begging, and thou, thou givest again: Welcome, gentle Stripling, nature’s darling thou. With thy basket full of blossoms, a happy welcome now!
(Friedrich Schiller)