{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/how-spring-comes-to-shasta-jim",
 "title": "How Spring Comes to Shasta Jim",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 155,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 40,
  "n_stanzas": 10,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 63,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "I never seen no “red gods”; I dunno wot’s a “lure”;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But if it’s sumpin’ takin’, then Spring has got it sure;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ it doesn’t need no Kiplins, ner yet no London Jacks,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To make up guff about it, w’ile settin’ in their shacks.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It’s sumpin’ very simple ’at happens in the Spring,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But it changes all the lookin’s of every blessed thing;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The buddin’ woods look bigger, the mounting twice as high,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the house looks kindo smaller, tho I couldn’t tell ye why.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "It’s cur’ous wot a show-down the month of April makes,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between the reely livin’, an’ the things ’at’s only fakes!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Machines an’ barns an’ buildin’s, they never give no sign;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But the livin’ things look lively w’en Spring is on the line.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She doesn’t come too suddin, ner she doesn’t come too slow;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Her gaits is some cayprishus, an’ the next ye never know⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A single-foot o’ sunshine, a buck o’ snow er hail⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But don’t be disapp’inted, fer Spring ain’t goin’ ter fail.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She’s loopin’ down the hillside⁠—the driffs is fadin’ out.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s runnin’ down the river⁠—d’ye see them risin’ trout?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She’s loafin’ down the canyon⁠—the squaw-bed’s growin’ blue,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ the teeny Johnny-jump-ups is jest a-peekin’ thru.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "A thousan’ miles o’ pine-trees, with Douglas firs between,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is waitin’ fer her fingers to freshen up their green;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With little tips o’ brightness the firs ’ill sparkle thick,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ every yaller pine-tree, a giant candle-stick!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The underbrush is risin’ an’ spreadin’ all around,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Jest like a mist o’ greenness ’at hangs above the ground;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A million manzanitas ’ill soon be full o’ pink;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So saddle up, my sonny⁠—it’s time to ride, I think!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We’ll ford er swim the river, becos there ain’t no bridge;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll foot the gulches careful, an’ lope along the ridge;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We’ll take the trail to Nowhere, an’ travel till we tire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ camp beneath a pine-tree, an’ sleep beside the fire.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "We’ll see the blue-quail chickens, an’ hear ’em pipin’ clear;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ p’raps we’ll sight a brown-bear, er else a bunch o’ deer;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But nary a heathen goddess or god ’ill meet our eyes;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For why? There isn’t any! They’re jest a pack o’ lies!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Oh, wot’s the use o’ “red gods,” an’ “Pan,” an’ all that stuff?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The natcheral facts o’ Springtime is wonderful enuff!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An’ if there’s Someone made ’em, I guess He understood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To be alive in Springtime would make a man feel good.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}