I bid thee welcome, fairy May,
Sweet harbinger of Summer hours,
Thou comest, crowned with fragrant flowers,
To drive our sadder thoughts away.

Now tearful April taketh leave,
And from her fertilizing showers
Spring into birth sweet May flowers,
That we may floral chaplets weave --

The voices of the cheerful Spring
Are heard in every dell and grove,
Through which the feathered songsters rove,
Made vocal with their whispering.

Then welcome to thee, fairy May!
The fields put on their robes of green,
The air is quiet and serene,
And not a cloud obscures the day.

Horatio Alger (1832-1899)