June

We thought that winter, love, would never end,
    That the dark year had slain the innocent May,
    Nor hoped that your soft hand, this summer day,
Would lie, as now, in mine, beloved friend;
    And, like some magic spring, your dream-deep eyes
    Hold all the summer skies.

But lo! the world again is mad with flowers,
    The long white silence spake, small bird by bird,
Blade after blade, amid the song of showers,
    The grass stole back once more, and there was heard
The ancient music of the vernal spheres,
Half laughter and half tears.

Ah! love, and now too swiftly, like some groom,
    Raining hot kisses on his bride's young mouth,
    The mad young year, delirious with the South,
Squanders his fairy treasure, bloom on bloom;
    Too soon the wild rose hastens to be sweet,
    Too swift, O June, thy feet.

Tarry a little, summer, crowd not so
    All glory and gladness in so brief a day,
Teach all thy dancing flowers a step more slow,
    And bid thy wild musicians softlier play,
O hast thou thought, that like a madman spends,
The longest summer ends.