December
Now the summer all is over!
We have wandered through the clover,
We have plucked in wood and lea
Blue-bell and anemone.
We were children of the sun,
Very brown to look upon:
We were stainéd, hands and lips,
With the berries' juicy tips.
And I think that we may know
Where the rankest nettles grow,
And where oak and ivy weave
Crimson glories to deceive.
Now the merry days are over!
Woodland-tenants seek their cover,
And the swallow leaves again
For his castle-nests in Spain.
Shut the door, and close the blind:
We shall have the bitter wind,
We shall have the dreary rain
Striving, driving at the pane.
Send the ruddy fire-light higher;
Draw your easy chair up nigher;
Through the winter, bleak and chill,
We may have our summer still.
Here are poems we may read,
Pleasant fancies to our need:
Ah, eternal summer-time
Dwells within the poet's rhyme!
All the birds' sweet melodies
Linger in these songs of his;
And the blossoms of all ages
Waft their fragrance from his pages.
~~
Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928)
[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the European Union]
Ina Coolbrith biography
Hannah Shea, Rainy Cabin, Pinterest
No comments:
Post a Comment