In its color, shade and shine, 'Twas a summer warm as wine, With an effervescent flavoring of flowered bough and vine, And a fragrance and a taste Of ripe roses gone to waste, And a dreamy sense of sun- and moon-and starlight interlaced. 'Twas a summer such as broods O'er enchanted solitudes, Where the hand of Fancy leads us through voluptuary moods, And with lavish love outpours All the wealth of out-of-doors, And woos our feet o'er velvet paths and honeysuckle floors. 'Twas a summer-time long dead, -- And its roses, white and red, And its reeds and water-lilies down along the river-bed, -- O they all are ghostly things -- For the ripple never sings, And the rocking lily never even rustles as it rings! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THIS SUMMER AND LAST by THOMAS HARDY OLD IRONSIDES by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN: THE THIRD DAY: AZRAEL by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW AN ORIGINAL THOUGHT by MARIA ABDY A SPIRITUAL AND WELL-ORDERED MIND by HENRY ALFORD MOVE UPWARD by ALEXANDER ANDERSON THE MERCHANT OF VENICE; A LEGEND OF ITALY by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |