(After Rilke) Spring has returned! Everything has returned! The earth, just like a schoolgirl, memorizes Poems, so many poems. ... Look, she has learned So many famous poems, she has earned so many prizes! Teacher was strict. We delighted in the white Of the old man's beard, bright like the snow's: Now we may ask which names are wrong, or right For "blue," for "apple," for "ripe." She knows, she knows! Lucky earth, let out of school, now you must play Hide-and-seek with all the children every day: You must hide that we may seek you: we will! We will! The happiest child will hold you. She knows all the things You taught her: the word for "hope," and for "believe," Are still upon her tongue. She sings and sings and sings.