"It was deep April, and the morn" by "Michael Field."

It was deep April, and the morn
        Shakspere was born;
The world was on us, pressing sore;
My Love and I took hands and swore,
    Against the world, to be
Poets and lovers evermore,
To laugh and dream on Lethe's shore,
To sing to Charon in his boat,
Heartening the timid souls afloat;
Of judgement never to take heed,
But to those fast-locked souls to speed,
Who never from Apollo fled,
Who spent no hour among the dead;
        Continually
        With them to dwell,
Indifferent to heaven or hell.


Note: The author, "Michael Field," was the pen-name for Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper, who composed poems and verse-plays together.  Bradley was Cooper's aunt and guardian and partner for life.

Source of the text - Michael Field.  Underneath the Bough: A Book of Verses.  Portland, Maine: Thomas B. Mosher, MDCCCXCVIII, p.50.

TJB: Palaver-doggerel. This April-song, with long-vowels & expected rhymes, includes a beguiling Charon-sequence & the poets’ mission-statement.