July / George Meredith

July

I

Blue July, bright July,
Month of storms and gorgeous blue;
Violet lightnings o'er thy sky,
Heavy falls of drenching dew;
Summer crown! o'er glen and glade
Shrinking hyacinths in their shade;
I welcome thee with all thy pride,
I love thee like an Eastern bride.
Though all the singing days are done
As in those climes that clasp the sun;
Though the cuckoo in his throat
Leaves to the dove his last twin note;
Come to me with thy lustrous eye,
Golden-dawning oriently,
Come with all thy shining blooms,
Thy rich red rose and rolling glooms.
Though the cuckoo doth but sing 'cuk, cuk,'
And the dove alone doth coo;
Though the cushat spins her coo-r-roo, r-r-roo –
To the cuckoo's halting 'cuk.'


II

Sweet July, warm July!
Month when mosses near the stream,
Soft green mosses thick and shy,
Are a rapture and a dream.
Summer Queen! whose foot the fern
Fades beneath while chestnuts burn;
I welcome thee with thy fierce love,
Gloom below and gleam above.
Though all the forest trees hang dumb,
With dense leafiness o'ercome;
Though the nightingale and thrush,
Pipe not from the bough or bush;
Come to me with thy lustrous eye,
Azure-melting westerly,
The raptures of thy face unfold,
And welcome in thy robes of gold!
Tho' the nightingale broods – 'sweet-chuck-sweet' –
And the ouzel flutes so chill,
Tho' the throstle gives but one shrilly trill
To the nightingale's 'sweet-sweet.'

~~

George Meredith (1828-1909)

from Poems, 1851

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

George Meredith biography

Summer Day / John McClure

Summer Day

I walked upon a little hill
     Where the wind came running by
With quick march-music in my feet
     And a dream before my eye.

I walked among the slender flowers
     That nodded from the grass,
I heard them laugh like city-folk
     To see a poet pass.

And I laughed to the laughing flowers
     And the white clouds in the sky,
And I dreamed a dream and forgot it
     While the wind went running by.

~~
John McClure (1893-1956)
from Airs and Ballads, 1918

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

John McClure biography

Summer in the South / Paul Laurence Dunbar

Summer in the South

The oriole sings in the greening grove
    As if he were half-way waiting,
The rosebuds peep from their hoods of green,
    Timid and hesitating.
The rain comes down in a torrent sweep
    And the nights smell warm and piney,
The garden thrives, but the tender shoots
    Are yellow-green and tiny.
Then a flash of sun on a waiting hill,
    Streams laugh that erst were quiet,
The sky smiles down with a dazzling blue
    And the woods run mad with riot.

~~
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
from Lippincott's, September 1903

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Paul Laurence Dunbar biography

"Summer in the South" read by Ghizela Rowe. Courtesy Ghizela Rowe - Topic.

A something in a summer's Day / Emily Dickinson

A something in a summer's Day
As slow her flambeaux burn away
Which solemnizes me.

A something in a summer's noon —
A depth — an Azure — a perfume —
Transcending ecstasy.

And still within a summer's night
A something so transporting bright
I clap my hands to see —

Then veil my too inspecting face
Lest such a subtle — shimmering grace
Flutter too far for me —

The wizard fingers never rest —
The purple brook within the breast
Still chafes its narrow bed —

Still rears the East her amber Flag —
Guides still the sun along the Crag
His Caravan of Red —

So looking on — the night — the morn
Conclude the wonder gay —
And I meet, coming thro' the dews
Another summer's Day!

~~

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Emily Dickinson biography

"A something in a summer's Day". Courtesy The Orchard Enterprises.

Summer / David Morton

Summer
From what lost centuries that were sweet before,Comes this long wave of Summer, bursting whiteIn shivered apple-blossoms on the shoreThat is our homeland for a day and night!A wide, hushed spirit floats above the foam,A sweetness that was ancient flower and face,When wine-red poppies stained the walls of Rome,And daisies starred those summer fields of Thrace.

Something survives and haunts the leafy shade,Some fragrance that was petals, once, and lips,And whispered, brief avowals that they made,—Borne hither, now, in vague, invisible ships,Whose weightless cargoes, poured upon the air,Are flowers forgot, and faces that were fair.
~~
David Morton (1886-1957)
from Ships in Harbour, and other poems, 1921

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

David Morton biography

An Ode for the Canadian Confederacy / Charles G.D. Roberts

An Ode for the Canadian Confederacy

Awake, my country, the hour is great with change!
     Under this gloom which yet obscures the land,
From ice-blue strait and stern Laurentian range
     To where giant peaks our western bounds command,
A deep voice stirs, vibrating in men's ears
     As if their own hearts throbbed that thunder forth,
A sound wherein who hearkens wisely hears
    The voice of the desire of this strong North,—
          This North whose heart of fire
          Yet knows not its desire
     Clearly, but dreams, and murmurs in the dream.
The hour of dreams is done. Lo, on the hills the gleam!

Awake, my country, the hour of dreams is done!
     Doubt not, nor dread the greatness of thy fate.
Tho' faint souls fear the keen confronting sun,
     And fain would bid the morn of splendor wait;
Tho' dreamers, rapt in starry visions, cry
     "Lo, yon thy future, yon thy faith, thy fame!"
And stretch vain hands to stars, thy fame is nigh,
     Here in Canadian hearth, and home, and name;—
          This name which yet shall grow
          Till all the nations know
     Us for a patriot people, heart and hand
Loyal to our native earth, our own Canadian land!

O strong hearts, guarding the birthright of our glory,
      Worth your best blood this heritage that ye guard!
These mighty streams resplendent with our story,
     These iron coasts by rage of seas unjarred,—
What fields of peace these bulwarks well secure!
     What vales of plenty those calm floods supply!
Shall not our love this rough, sweet land make sure,
     Her bounds preserve inviolate, though we die?
          O strong hearts of the North,
          Let flame your loyalty forth,
     And put the craven and base to an open shame,
Till earth shall know the Child of Nations by her name!

~~
Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943)
from In Divers Tones, 1886

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

Charles G.D. Roberts biography

"An Ode for the Canadian Confederacy". Courtesy Canada the Unknown Country.

Penny's Top 20 / June 2020

Penny's Top 20
The most-visited poems on  The Penny Blog in June 2020:

  1.   June Rain, Richard Aldington 
  2.  One Spring, Eda Lou Walton

  3.  Skating, William Wordsworth

  4.  Esthetique du Mal, Wallace Stevens
  5.  A New England June, Bliss Carman
  6.  Amarant, AE Reiff
  7.  A Rhyme for June / After Rain, Lizette Woodworth Reese
  8.  Midmost June, Wilfred Rowland Childe
  9.  Sweet Wild April, William Force Stead
10.  Spring, George J. Dance 

11.  A Father to His Son, Carl Sandburg
12.  Written in March, William Wordsworth
13.  Ode to May, Mary Darwall
14. The moon and stars are making love, George J. Dance
15.  A Pastoral, A. Mary F. Robinson
16.  To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Robert Herrick
17.  But One, Ella Wheeler Wilcox
18.  Verses Written in the Spring, Ann Batten Cristall
19.  The Midsummer Wish, John Hawkesworth

20. Ode to Sport, Pierre de Coubertin

Source: Blogger, "Stats"