LXVIII.
SUMMER GARDEN.
I
Thou beneath the sun art gay:
All thine insect life at play:
All thy flowers rejoice and sing,
In the noontide revelling,
Garden, eye and heart's delight,
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer.
II
Here would I set up my home,
In thy world content to roam:
But our hopes coy Fortune baulks:
I must leave thy odorous walks:
Leave my eye and heart's delight,
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer.
III
Well I know thou wilt not be
Changed when next thy flowers I see:
Sure thy smiles to reassume
As the tripping seasons come:
April showers and May's warm light,
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer.
IV
Nature ne'er can swerve or stay
In the tenour of her way:
Sure at each return of Spring
Due recurring gifts to bring:
Warmth by day and dews by night,
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer.
V
Ah that Man, who boasts him free,
Oft should cross her wise decree:
That caprice of human force
Should derange her faithful course:
Whose soft hand, thro' dewy night,
Brightness adds to gardens bright,
Gardens in the Summer!
VI
Aye she greets us with the Spring:
Man denies a welcoming:
Her deep heart beats on unchanged,
Where Man's vagrant soul has ranged:
—Impotence of fancied might!
Learn the lore of gardens bright,
Gardens in the Summer.
VII
I another Flower have known,
In a wider garden grown:
One short Spring mayhap I've worn her,
But for whom will she adorn her
When in next year's tints art dight
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer?
VIII
Ah! one morn the Rose I find
In her opening sweetness kind:
Lo! the next I grasp the thorn,
In caprice of maiden scorn:
When will soul with soul unite,
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer?
IX
Blithe I leave thy trellis'd bower:
But I dread to quit my Flower,
Lest my next return should find
Time has warp'd the youthful mind.
Ah! could I then bear thy sight
Lily Garden, Garden bright,
Garden in the Summer?
