 | Louise de la Valliaere and other poems |  |
85
AUGUST OR JUNE?
In the rich Autumn weather,
When royal August visits the fair land,
Coming with pomp and coloured pageantry,
Flinging around him with a lavish hand,
Gold on the gorse, and purple on the heather,
Across the land as far as eye can see,
Under his tread all yellow grows the wheat,
All purple every belt of perfumed clover,
Purple and gold, fit carpet for his feet,
This harmony of colouring and light,
And all the happy space he passes over,
Grows fruitful, fair, and pleasant to the sight.
When royal August visits the fair land,
Coming with pomp and coloured pageantry,
Flinging around him with a lavish hand,
Gold on the gorse, and purple on the heather,
Across the land as far as eye can see,
Under his tread all yellow grows the wheat,
All purple every belt of perfumed clover,
Purple and gold, fit carpet for his feet,
This harmony of colouring and light,
And all the happy space he passes over,
Grows fruitful, fair, and pleasant to the sight.
In these luxuriant days,
Have we no sorrow for the fair June hours
We thought so sweet, the skies we deemed so blue,
The glad young world so prodigal of flowers,
Of form most perfect, and most fair of hue?
Have we forgotten all the leaf-hung ways?
Ah! never Autumn's wealth of golden dowers,
Atones for joy that all the fresh June fills,
The purple-hearted solemn passion-flowers,
The slender shafts of moon-born lilies tall,
The most fair paleness of the daffodils,
The cool June sky which beauty sheds o'er all.
Have we no sorrow for the fair June hours
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The glad young world so prodigal of flowers,
Of form most perfect, and most fair of hue?
Have we forgotten all the leaf-hung ways?
Ah! never Autumn's wealth of golden dowers,
Atones for joy that all the fresh June fills,
The purple-hearted solemn passion-flowers,
The slender shafts of moon-born lilies tall,
The most fair paleness of the daffodils,
The cool June sky which beauty sheds o'er all.
| Louise de la Valliaere and other poems | |