'Twas the half-year's last day, a festal one; Light tasks and feast and sport, hoop, cricket, kite, Employed us fully, till the summer-night Stole o'er the roofs of happy Alderton. Homer indoors, and field-games out of school, Made medley of my dreams; for, when I slept, The quaintest vision o'er my fancy swept, That ever served the lordship of misrule: Our hoops through gods and heroes ran a-muck; Our kites o'erhung the fleet, a public gaze! And one wild ball the great Achilles struck - Oh! how he towered and lightened at the stroke! But, tho' his formal pardon I bespoke, I told him plainly 'twas our holidays. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WOMAN, GALLUP, N.M. by KAREN SWENSON AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by KATHARINE LEE BATES COUNT THAT DAY LOST by MARY ANN EVANS THE DEATH OF AUTUMN by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY FOR 'THE WINE OF CIRCE' (BY EDWARD BURNE JONES) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI THE GODODDIN: THE DEATH OF HOEL by ANEIRIN |