A July Fern-Leaf / Mortimer Collins

A July Fern-Leaf

Mors aurem vellens, "Vivite" ait, "Venio."

    I

 
White feet in the fairy fern –
    Quick wings in a chrysolite sky –
And an amethyst lamp in the west to burn,
When the cool dusk hours for which lovers yearn
    Pass in sweet silence by:
        Over summer seas
        Thou bringest these
                    Hither, July.

    II

Stern hours have the merciless Fates
    Plotted for all who die:
But looking down upon Richmond's aits,
Where the merles sing low to their amorous mates,
    Who cares to ask them why?
        We'll have wit, love, wine,
        Ere thy days divine
                    Wither, July.

    III

 
For the blossom of youth must fade,
    And the vigor of life must fly;
Yet to-day is ours with its odorous shade,
And the loving eyes which soon betrayed
    Dreams in the heart that lie.
        Swift life's stream flows,
        But alas! who knows
                    Whither, July.

~~
Mortimer Collins (1827-1876)
from The Inn of Strange Meetings, and other poems, 1871

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Mortimer Collins biography

Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898), Green Summer, 1868. Wikimedia Commons.