WHAT will the summer bring? Sunshine and flowers, Brightness and melody, Golden-voiced hours; Rose-gleaming mornings Vocal with praise; Crimson-flushed evenings, Nightingale lays. What may the summer bring? Gladness and mirth, Laughter and song, For the children of earth; Smiles for the old man, Joy for the strong, Glee for the little ones All the day long. What will the summer bring? Coolness and shade, Eloquent stillness In thicket and glade; Whispering breezes, Fragrance oppressed; Lingering twilight Soothing to rest. What may the summer bring? Freshness and calm To the care-worn and troubled, Beauty and balm. O toil-weary spirit, Rest thee anew, For the heat of the world-race Summer hath dew! What will the summer bring? Sultry noon hours, Lurid horizons, Frowning cloud-towers! Loud-crashing thunders, Tempest and hail, Death-bearing lightnings, It brings without fail. What may the summer bring? Dimness and woe, Blackness of sorrow Its bright days may know; Flowers may be wormwood, Verdure a pall, The shadow of death On the fairest may fall. Is it not ever so? Where shall we find Light that may cast No shadow behind? Calm that no tempest May darkly await? Joy that no sorrow May swiftly abate? Will the story of summer Be written in light, Or traced in the darkness Of storm-cloud and night? We know not -- we would not know; Why should we quail? Summer, we welcome thee! Summer, all hail! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ECHOES: 6 by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY EPODE: 2. THE PRAISES OF A COUNTRY LIFE by QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS EPIGRAM by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM FLANDERS NOW by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN BEYOND THE BARS by GEORGE E. BOWEN |