University of Virginia Library

BETWEEN HAYMAKING AND HARVEST

(JOHN AND HIS FRIEND)
J.
The sunsped hours, with wheeling shades,
Have warm'd, for month on month, the glades,
Till now the summer wanes;
Though shadows quiver down below
The boughs, that lofty elm-trees throw
Across the dusty lanes;

F.
and docks,
With ruddy stems, have risen tall
Beside the cow-forsaken stall,
All free of hoofy hocks.

J.
Along the swath with even side,
The meadow flow'rs have fall'n and died,
And wither'd, rustling dry;
And in between the hay-wale's backs,
The waggon wheels have cut their tracks,
With loads of hay built high,

F.
and bound,
And ev'ry rick with peakèd crown,
Is now down-toned to yellow brown,
And sunburnt, two-thirds round.

J.
The clouds now ride at upper height,
Above the barley yellow white;
By lane and hedge; along
The fields of wheat, that ripen red,
And slowly reel, with giddy head,
In wind that streams full strong,

F.
by copse,
And grass-field, where the cows lie down
Among the bent-grass, ruddy brown,
And thistles' purple tops.

J.
So come while sheep, now shorn, may run
Clean white, below the yellow sun,
In daisy beds; before
The swinging hook may come to shear
The yellow wheat with nodding ear,
Come, welcome, to my door.

F.
I'll rest
Beside the clover-whiten'd knap,
With weary hand upon my lap,
One day your happy guest.