Poems (Curwen)/A Summer Day

by Annie Isabel Curwen

A Summer Day.

Calm as a lake the ocean lies,
 Reflecting in her smiling face
The snow-white clouds and azure skies,
 Of Winter storms she bears no trace,
And where the stronger currents run,
 A thousand little wavelets bright
Are scintillating in the sun,
 Like twinkling stars on frosty night.

The birds chirp gaily in the eaves,
 The butterflies flit here and there
At hide-and-seek among the leaves;
 The scent of roses fills the air,
The fields are full of growing grain,
 Laden with ripening fruit the trees;
The honey-suckle in the lane,
 Attracts the ever busy bees.

Dame Nature, with her sunny face—
 She is no longer brown and bare,
And wears her summer robe with grace—
 Hath called the children unto her.
They sit upon her lap and play
 With daisy chains, and laugh with glee,
O, life is sweet! this Summer day,
 And full of joy and melody.

O heart! sad heart, whom fate has shorn
 Of joys, as Winter strips the tree,
Learn, now, from Nature's joys new-born
 The lesson she would teach to thee;
And wait in patience and with faith,
 Until thy Winter pass away,
And thou shalt reap an aftermath
 Of joys, when comes thy Summer day.