Sound the flute!
Now it's mute!
Birds delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky,—
Merrily,
Merrily, merrily to welcome in the year.
Little boy,
Full of joy;
Little girl,
The long final line forms a resolution to the build-up in the previous lines. This creates a sense of anticipation and joy, appropriate to the meaning. The repetition of ‘merrily’, with its softness and short syllables, sets the pattern.
Spring