Poems (McDonald)/June
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For works with similar titles, see June.
Come with thy rose-wreaths, fair and laughing June!
Fling thy rich odors upon every gale;
Bid the blue waters wake their blithest tune,
And joy, and light, and melody prevail.
Thou hast a store of treasures, and with thee
We look for all things lovely: butterflies
Flit like winged jewels 'neath thy sunny skies,
And roam, with tones of music, bird and bee.
Thou art the loveliest of the sisters three—
Summer's most beauteous child! Oh, still delay,
Fairest of months! thy parting; fondly stay,
And pour thy radiant smiles on lake and lea:
Bear not from earth thy blessed gifts so soon;
Stay, stay thy flight, oh fair and laughing June!
JUNE.
Come with thy rose-wreaths, fair and laughing June!
Fling thy rich odors upon every gale;
Bid the blue waters wake their blithest tune,
And joy, and light, and melody prevail.
Thou hast a store of treasures, and with thee
We look for all things lovely: butterflies
Flit like winged jewels 'neath thy sunny skies,
And roam, with tones of music, bird and bee.
Thou art the loveliest of the sisters three—
Summer's most beauteous child! Oh, still delay,
Fairest of months! thy parting; fondly stay,
And pour thy radiant smiles on lake and lea:
Bear not from earth thy blessed gifts so soon;
Stay, stay thy flight, oh fair and laughing June!
I would be with thee on the sunny hills,
And by the streams would linger, as they flow
With their perpetual music, sweet and low:
And where, in light, leap out the shining rills,
Like chains of liquid diamonds, I would be;
Methinks 'twere sweet to wander far and free,
Tempting each craggy height or sylvan shade—
A loiterer, where the mossy banks, inlaid
With Nature's flowery gems, invite repose;
And stealing o'er my brow, thy breath of balm
Might lull each care my beating bosom knows,
And bid the tossing waves of thought be calm;
And I might half forget life's boding ills,
Roaming with thee out on the sunny hills.
And by the streams would linger, as they flow
With their perpetual music, sweet and low:
And where, in light, leap out the shining rills,
Like chains of liquid diamonds, I would be;
Methinks 'twere sweet to wander far and free,
Tempting each craggy height or sylvan shade—
A loiterer, where the mossy banks, inlaid
With Nature's flowery gems, invite repose;
And stealing o'er my brow, thy breath of balm
Might lull each care my beating bosom knows,
And bid the tossing waves of thought be calm;
And I might half forget life's boding ills,
Roaming with thee out on the sunny hills.
Alas! it may not be; I am forbid
By a stern duty, and my feet must press,
Day after day, in toil and weariness,
The city's streets; while in my heart is hid
Strange, passionate yearnings for a brighter spot:
My childhood's home is stealing on my sight—
In native loveliness all unforgot,
Fancy reveals it. Well I know, the blight
Of time has dimmed its beauty; yet to me
It ever rises with the summer day,
Decked by thy hand in fair and fresh array;
And on its verdant slopes I long to be,
A happy child, as careless and as gay,
As erst in thy bright reign I laughed the hours away.
By a stern duty, and my feet must press,
Day after day, in toil and weariness,
The city's streets; while in my heart is hid
Strange, passionate yearnings for a brighter spot:
My childhood's home is stealing on my sight—
In native loveliness all unforgot,
Fancy reveals it. Well I know, the blight
Of time has dimmed its beauty; yet to me
It ever rises with the summer day,
Decked by thy hand in fair and fresh array;
And on its verdant slopes I long to be,
A happy child, as careless and as gay,
As erst in thy bright reign I laughed the hours away.