Classic Poem

What time came in the welcome spring,
The happy maiden looked abroad,
And saw her lover gayly fling
The flax athwart the sod.

Hither and thither the yellow seed
Young Leon sprinkled o'er the plain,
As a farmer to his feathery breed
Full hands of golden grain.

As o'er the yielding mould he swayed,
He whistled to his measured tread
A happy tune; for he saw the maid
Spinning the future thread.

Or saw the shuttle in her room
Fly, like a bird, from hand to hand;
And then his arm, as at a loom,
Swung wider o'er the land.

He wondered what the woof would be, —
Or for the poor, or for the proud?
A bridal garment fluttering free?
Or formal winding-shroud?