870. Invocation to Youth

Laurence Binyon. b. 1869


COME then, as ever, like the wind at morning!
  Joyous, O Youth, in the aged world renew
Freshness to feel the eternities around it,
  Rain, stars and clouds, light and the sacred dew.
      The strong sun shines above thee:
      That strength, that radiance bring!
      If Winter come to Winter,
      When shall men hope for Spring?

The Oxford Book of English Verse, HTML edition