An April Day

When the warm sun that brings

Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,

Tis sweet to visit the still woods where springs

The first flower of the plain.

Wild Woodland Violets

New Jersey State Flower

I love the season well

When forest glades are teeming with bright forms

Nor dark and many-folded clouds foretell

The coming of storms.

From the earths' loosened mould

The sapling draws its' sustenance and thrives

Though stricken to the heart with winter's cold

The drooping tree revives.

American Goldfinch

New Jersey State Bird

The softly warbled song

Comes from the pleasant woods, and coloured winds

Glance quick in the bright sun that moves along

The forest openings.

When the bright sunset fills

The silver woods with light, the green slope throws

Its shadow on the hollow of the hills

And wide the upland glows.

 Sunset at the historic East Point Light On Delaware Bay

Heislerville, Cumberland County, New Jersey

And when the eve is born

In the blue lake the sky, o'er-reaching far

Is hollowed out, and the moon dips her horn

And twinkles many a star.

Sweet April!-Many a thought

is wedded unto thee, as hearts are wed

Nor shall they fail, till to its' Autumn brought

Life's golden fruit is shed

"An April Day"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
American Poet and Educator
1807-1882