Poem of the Week: “The May Baby” by Martin Dyar

In his poem “The May Baby,” Martin Dyar draws upon vivid natural imagery to create an ode to springtime. Dyar paints the portrait of the “May girl,” who seamlessly blends into this background of honey, doves, blossoms, and herons. “The May Baby” is infused with hope, drawing upon themes of connection and community across humanity and nature.

—Mary Outland, WFU Press intern

The May Baby

for Cecilia

translated from a version of a traditional Irish song
collected in County Monaghan by Henry Morris

Summer gold, akin to a flower’s brightness;
this we carry with us,
in praise and celebration.

Girl of May, bounteous one, Summer’s girl –
We bear you with us too, up hills, into valleys,
in praise and celebration.

A female team, clad in new effulgence,
we are touring now with the bough of Summer,
in praise and celebration.

The lark’s performance extends the sky’s blue,
tree blossom and insect life are one in broad passion,
and we bear the May girl, the Summer’s self,
in praise and celebration.

We sing now to enumerate the hare’s home
on the promontory, the grey heron high
in the branches, new grass thatched
by new honey beneath a loudness of doves.

Through these May things
we bear the Summer’s garland,
and our May girl in the garland’s heart;
arm in arm, in praise and celebration.

— Martin Dyar, from The Meek (2025)