June is Coming / John Burroughs

June is Coming

Now have come the shining days
     When field and wood are robed anew,
And o'er the world a silver haze
     Mingles the emerald with the blue.

Summer now doth clothe the land
     In garments free from spot or stain —
The lustrous leaves, the hills untanned,
     The vivid meads, the glaucous grain.

The day looks new, a coin unworn,
     Freshly stamped in heavenly mint;
The sky keeps on its look of morn;
     Of age and death there is no hint.

How soft the landscape near and far!
     A shining veil the trees infold;
The day remembers moon and star;
     A silver lining hath its gold.

Again I see the clover bloom,
     And wade in grasses lush and sweet;
Again has vanished all my gloom
     With daisies smiling at my feet.

Again from out the garden hives
     The exodus of frenzied bees;
The humming cyclone onward drives,
     Or finds repose amid the trees.

At dawn the river seems a shade —
     A liquid shadow deep as space;
But when the sun the mist has laid,
     A diamond shower smites its face.

The season's tide now nears its height,
     And gives to earth an aspect new;
Now every shoal is hid from sight,
     With current fresh as morning dew.

~~
John Burroughs (1837-1921)
from Bird and Bough, 1906

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

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