W. H. Davies describes a walk through a bright spring landscape. The speaker names simple, bold colors: clear sky, bright sun, red cows, white sheep. Trees in the meadows make “happy shadows.” Birds sing from hedges, swallows and larks fly, and two cuckoos call and echo. Even wetness separates the speaker from the animals: his road is dry, while the birds and beasts still carry dew. A brief line about death giving no warning flashes by, but the speaker refuses it. He sees no Christ on a tree, no sin, no cause for sadness. Instead, the whole morning turns toward gladness. The mood is light, open, almost innocent—a deliberate turn away from heavy religious or moral thoughts and toward the immediate pleasure of sun, animals, and song.
A May Morning — Summary
The sky is clear, The sun is bright; The cows are red, The sheep are white; Trees in the meadows Make happy shadows. Birds in the hedge Are perched and sing; Swallows and larks Are on the wing: Two merry cuckoos Are making echoes. Bird and the beast Have the dew yet; My road shines dry, Theirs bright and wet: Death gives no warning, On this May morning. I see no Christ Nailed on a tree, Dying for sin; No sin I see: No thoughts for sadness, All thoughts for gladness.