In Spring -- 3 Songs for Unaccompanied Soprano on Poems by E. E. Cummings

O sweet spontaneous
earth how often have
the
doting

            fingers of
purient philosophers pinched
and
poked

thee
,has the naughty thumb
of science prodded
thy

       beauty .how
often have religions taken
thee upon their scraggy knees
squeezing and

buffeting thee that thou mightest conceive
gods
         (but
true

to the incomparable
couch of death thy
rhythmic
lover

        thou answerest


them only with


                        spring)

but the other
day i was passing a certain
gate       rain
fell       as it will

in spring 
ropes 
of silver gliding from sunny 
thunder into freshness 

as if god's flowers were 
pulling upon bells of 
gold       i looked 
up 

and 
thought to myself       death 
and will You with 
elaborate fingers possibly touch 

the pink hollyhock existence whose 
pansy eyes look from morning till 
night into the street 
unchangingly       the always 

old lady sitting in her 
gentle window like 
a reminiscence 
partaken 

softly       at whose gate smile 
always the chosen 
flowers of reminding

in Just-
spring          when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
 
whistles       far         and wee --
 
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
 
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far       and         wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
 
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
 
it's
spring
and
        the
 
                goat-footed
 
balloonMan         whistles
far
                                and
                wee