In “Spring Reminiscence,” the speaker remembers a springtime romance that felt perfectly young and free. He and his lover sang to each other, compared themselves to wild colts, and lay together in white apple blossoms and clover. Now, looking back, he wonders whether any spring can ever feel that vivid again—whether the blossoms will be as white, the clover as fragrant, or a beloved’s hand as alive against his own. The final question shifts the tone slightly, asking if the gods themselves grew jealous of the couple’s “thunder.” The mood is tender and bittersweet: the speaker treasures the memory but aches with the possibility that such intensity belongs only to the past.
Spring Reminiscence — Summary
“My sweet,” you sang, and, “Sweet,” I sang, And sweet we sang together, Glad to be young as the world was young, Two colts too strong for a tether.
Shall ever a spring be like that spring, Or apple blossoms as white; Or ever clover smell like the clover We lay upon that night?
Shall ever your hand lie in my hand, Pulsing to it, I wonder; Or have the gods, being jealous gods, Envied us our thunder?