June / Virna Sheard

June

Now by every meadow-side the buttercups blow -
(O June, you are spendthrift of your gold!)
Green are the uplands where the little lambs go,
Green and glad the forests that are old.

Once again the summer weaves on her magic loom,
Cloth of clover,- fairy web of wheat;-
Only Mary's alabaster box of perfume
Ever made the passing wind more sweet.

Even through the city where the dusty roads run,
Blue runs now the river to the sea.
Tender is the twilight when the long day is done,-
Infinite the stars' tranquillity.

Not forever are the rains or the winter snows,
All these past - nor shall be overlong,-
And with every lovely June cometh the rose,
The sweet blue dusk,- a night-bird's wonder-song!

~~
Virna Sheard
from Ballad of the Quest, 1922

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the United States]

Virna Sheard biography