[ { "title": "'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight", "author": "Emily Bronte", "lines": [ "'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,", "All soft and still and fair;", "The solemn hour of midnight", "Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,", "", "But most where trees are sending", "Their breezy boughs on high,", "Or stooping low are lending", "A shelter from the sky.", "", "And there in those wild bowers", "A lovely form is laid;", "Green grass and dew-steeped flowers", "Wave gently round her head." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Summer begins to have the look", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer begins to have the look", "Peruser of enchanting Book", "Reluctantly but sure perceives", "A gain upon the backward leaves --", "", "Autumn begins to be inferred", "By millinery of the cloud", "Or deeper color in the shawl", "That wraps the everlasting hill.", "", "The eye begins its avarice", "A meditation chastens speech", "Some Dyer of a distant tree", "Resumes his gaudy industry.", "", "Conclusion is the course of All", "At most to be perennial", "And then elude stability", "Recalls to immortality." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "How know it from a Summer's Day?", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "How know it from a Summer's Day?", "Its Fervors are as firm --", "And nothing in the Countenance", "But scintillates the same --", "Yet Birds examine it and flee --", "And Vans without a name", "Inspect the Admonition", "And sunder as they came --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Twice had Summer her fair Verdure", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Twice had Summer her fair Verdure", "Proffered to the Plain --", "Twice a Winter's silver Fracture", "On the Rivers been --", "", "Two full Autumns for the Squirrel", "Bounteous prepared --", "Nature, Had'st thou not a Berry", "For thy wandering Bird?" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "The One who could repeat the Summer day", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "The One who could repeat the Summer day --", "Were greater than itself -- though He", "Minutest of Mankind should be --", "", "And He -- could reproduce the Sun --", "At period of going down --", "The Lingering -- and the Stain -- I mean --", "", "When Orient have been outgrown", "And Occident -- become Unknown --", "His Name -- remain --" ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "So much Summer", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "So much Summer", "Me for showing", "Illegitimate --", "Would a Smile's minute bestowing", "Too exorbitant", "", "To the Lady", "With the Guinea", "Look -- if She should know", "Crumb of Mine", "A Robin's Larder", "Would suffice to stow --" ], "linecount": "11" }, { "title": "It can't be \"Summer\"!", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "It can't be \"Summer\"!", "That -- got through!", "It's early -- yet -- for \"Spring\"!", "There's that long town of White -- to cross --", "Before the Blackbirds sing!", "It can't be \"Dying\"!", "It's too Rouge --", "The Dead shall go in White --", "So Sunset shuts my question down", "With Cuffs of Chrysolite!" ], "linecount": "10" }, { "title": "Summer for thee, grant I may be", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer for thee, grant I may be", "When Summer days are flown!", "Thy music still, when Whipporwill", "And Oriole -- are done!", "", "For thee to bloom, I'll skip the tomb", "And row my blossoms o'er!", "Pray gather me --", "Anemone --", "Thy flower -- forevermore!" ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "Summer -- we all have seen --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer -- we all have seen --", "A few of us -- believed --", "A few -- the more aspiring", "Unquestionably loved --", "", "But Summer does not care --", "She goes her spacious way", "As eligible as the moon", "To our Temerity --", "", "The Doom to be adored --", "The Affluence conferred --", "Unknown as to an Ecstasy", "The Embryo endowed --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Further in Summer than the Birds", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Further in Summer than the Birds", "Pathetic from the Grass", "A minor Nation celebrates", "Its unobtrusive Mass.", "", "No Ordinance be seen", "So gradual the Grace", "A pensive Custom it becomes", "Enlarging Loneliness.", "", "Antiquest felt at Noon", "When August burning low", "Arise this spectral Canticle", "Repose to typify", "", "Remit as yet no Grace", "No Furrow on the Glow", "Yet a Druidic Difference", "Enhances Nature now" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "What shall I do when the Summer troubles --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "What shall I do when the Summer troubles --", "What, when the Rose is ripe --", "What when the Eggs fly off in Music", "From the Maple Keep?", "", "What shall I do when the Skies a'chirrup", "Drop a Tune on me --", "When the Bee hangs all Noon in the Buttercup", "What will become of me?", "", "Oh, when the Squirrel fills His Pockets", "And the Berries stare", "How can I bear their jocund Faces", "Thou from Here, so far?", "", "'Twouldn't afflict a Robin --", "All His Goods have Wings --", "I -- do not fly, so wherefore", "My Perennial Things?" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "I know a place where Summer strives", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "I know a place where Summer strives", "With such a practised Frost --", "She -- each year -- leads her Daisies back --", "Recording briefly -- \"Lost\" --", "", "But when the South Wind stirs the Pools", "And struggles in the lanes --", "Her Heart misgives Her, for Her Vow --", "And she pours soft Refrains", "", "Into the lap of Adamant --", "And spices -- and the Dew --", "That stiffens quietly to Quartz --", "Upon her Amber Shoe --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The last of Summer is Delight --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "The last of Summer is Delight --", "Deterred by Retrospect.", "'Tis Ecstasy's revealed Review --", "Enchantment's Syndicate.", "", "To meet it -- nameless as it is --", "Without celestial Mail --", "Audacious as without a Knock", "To walk within the Veil." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "There came a Day at Summer's full", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "There came a Day at Summer's full,", "Entirely for me --", "I thought that such were for the Saints,", "Where Resurrections -- be --", "", "The Sun, as common, went abroad,", "The flowers, accustomed, blew,", "As if no soul the solstice passed", "That maketh all things new --", "", "The time was scarce profaned, by speech --", "The symbol of a word", "Was needless, as at Sacrament,", "The Wardrobe -- of our Lord --", "", "Each was to each The Sealed Church,", "Permitted to commune this -- time --", "Lest we too awkward show", "At Supper of the Lamb.", "", "The Hours slid fast -- as Hours will,", "Clutched tight, by greedy hands --", "So faces on two Decks, look back,", "Bound to opposing lands --", "", "And so when all the time had leaked,", "Without external sound", "Each bound the Other's Crucifix --", "We gave no other Bond --", "", "Sufficient troth, that we shall rise --", "Deposed -- at length, the Grave --", "To that new Marriage,", "Justified -- through Calvaries of Love --" ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Ourselves were wed one summer -- dear --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Ourselves were wed one summer -- dear --", "Your Vision -- was in June --", "And when Your little Lifetime failed,", "I wearied -- too -- of mine --", "", "And overtaken in the Dark --", "Where You had put me down --", "By Some one carrying a Light --", "I -- too -- received the Sign.", "", "'Tis true -- Our Futures different lay --", "Your Cottage -- faced the sun --", "While Oceans -- and the North must be --", "On every side of mine", "", "'Tis true, Your Garden led the Bloom,", "For mine -- in Frosts -- was sown --", "And yet, one Summer, we were Queens --", "But You -- were crowned in June --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "As Sleigh Bells seem in summer", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "As Sleigh Bells seem in summer", "Or Bees, at Christmas show --", "So fairy -- so fictitious", "The individuals do", "Repealed from observation --", "A Party that we knew --", "More distant in an instant", "Than Dawn in Timbuctoo." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Moonlight, summer moonlight", "author": "Emily Bronte", "lines": [ "'Tis moonlight, summer moonlight,", "All soft and still and fair;", "The solemn hour of midnight", "Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere,", "", "But most where trees are sending", "Their breezy boughs on high,", "Or stooping low are lending", "A shelter from the sky.", "", "And there in those wild bowers", "A lovely form is laid;", "Green grass and dew-steeped flowers", "Wave gently round her head." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Summer laid her simple Hat", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer laid her simple Hat", "On its boundless Shelf --", "Unobserved -- a Ribbon slipt,", "Snatch it for yourself.", "", "Summer laid her supple Glove", "In its sylvan Drawer --", "Wheresoe'er, or was she --", "The demand of Awe?" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "'Twas later when the summer went", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "'Twas later when the summer went", "Than when the Cricket came --", "And yet we knew that gentle Clock", "Meant nought but Going Home --", "'Twas sooner when the Cricket went", "Than when the Winter came", "Yet that pathetic Pendulum", "Keeps esoteric Time." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Summer is shorter than any one --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer is shorter than any one --", "Life is shorter than Summer --", "Seventy Years is spent as quick", "As an only Dollar --", "", "Sorrow -- now -- is polite -- and stays --", "See how well we spurn him --", "Equally to abhor Delight --", "Equally retain him --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Talk not to me of Summer Trees", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Talk not to me of Summer Trees", "The foliage of the mind", "A Tabernacle is for Birds", "Of no corporeal kind", "And winds do go that way at noon", "To their Ethereal Homes", "Whose Bugles call the least of us", "To undepicted Realms" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "As Summer into Autumn slips", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "As Summer into Autumn slips", "And yet we sooner say", "\"The Summer\" than \"the Autumn,\" lest", "We turn the sun away,", "", "And almost count it an Affront", "The presence to concede", "Of one however lovely, not", "The one that we have loved --", "", "So we evade the charge of Years", "On one attempting shy", "The Circumvention of the Shaft", "Of Life's Declivity." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Her final Summer was it --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Her final Summer was it --", "And yet We guessed it not --", "If tenderer industriousness", "Pervaded Her, We thought", "", "A further force of life", "Developed from within --", "When Death lit all the shortness up", "It made the hurry plain --", "", "We wondered at our blindness", "When nothing was to see", "But Her Carrara Guide post --", "At Our Stupidity --", "", "When duller than our dullness", "The Busy Darling lay --", "So busy was she -- finishing --", "So leisurely -- were We --" ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "It will be Summer -- eventually.", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "It will be Summer -- eventually.", "Ladies -- with parasols --", "Sauntering Gentlemen -- with Canes --", "And little Girls -- with Dolls --", "", "Will tint the pallid landscape --", "As 'twere a bright Bouquet --", "Thro' drifted deep, in Parian --", "The Village lies -- today --", "", "The Lilacs -- bending many a year --", "Will sway with purple load --", "The Bees -- will not despise the tune --", "Their Forefathers -- have hummed --", "", "The Wild Rose -- redden in the Bog --", "The Aster -- on the Hill", "Her everlasting fashion -- set --", "And Covenant Gentians -- frill --", "", "Till Summer folds her miracle --", "As Women -- do -- their Gown --", "Of Priests -- adjust the Symbols --", "When Sacrament -- is done --" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "'Twas here my summer paused", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "'Twas here my summer paused", "What ripeness after then", "To other scene or other soul", "My sentence had begun.", "", "To winter to remove", "With winter to abide", "Go manacle your icicle", "Against your Tropic Bride." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "To see the Summer Sky", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "To see the Summer Sky", "Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie --", "True Poems flee --" ], "linecount": "3" }, { "title": "Summer has two Beginnings --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Summer has two Beginnings --", "Beginning once in June --", "Beginning in October", "Affectingly again --", "", "Without, perhaps, the Riot", "But graphicker for Grace --", "As finer is a going", "Than a remaining Face --", "", "Departing then -- forever --", "Forever -- until May --", "Forever is deciduous", "Except to those who die --" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Summer that we did not prize,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "The Summer that we did not prize,", "Her treasures were so easy", "Instructs us by departing now", "And recognition lazy --", "", "Bestirs itself -- puts on its Coat,", "And scans with fatal promptness", "For Trains that moment out of sight,", "Unconscious of his smartness." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Consulting summer's clock,", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Consulting summer's clock,", "But half the hours remain.", "I ascertain it with a shock --", "I shall not look again.", "The second half of joy", "Is shorter than the first.", "The truth I do not dare to know", "I muffle with a jest." ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "Would you like summer? Taste of ours.", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Would you like summer? Taste of ours.", "Spices? Buy here!", "Ill! We have berries, for the parching!", "Weary! Furloughs of down!", "Perplexed! Estates of violet trouble ne'er looked on!", "Captive! We bring reprieve of roses!", "Fainting! Flasks of air!", "Even for Death, a fairy medicine.", "But, which is it, sir?" ], "linecount": "9" }, { "title": "A something in a summer's Day", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "A something in a summer's Day", "As slow her flambeaux burn away", "Which solemnizes me.", "", "A something in a summer's noon --", "A depth -- an Azure -- a perfume --", "Transcending ecstasy.", "", "And still within a summer's night", "A something so transporting bright", "I clap my hands to see --", "", "Then veil my too inspecting face", "Lets such a subtle -- shimmering grace", "Flutter too far for me --", "", "The wizard fingers never rest --", "The purple brook within the breast", "Still chafes it narrow bed --", "", "Still rears the East her amber Flag --", "Guides still the sun along the Crag", "His Caravan of Red --", "", "So looking on -- the night -- the morn", "Conclude the wonder gay --", "And I meet, coming thro' the dews", "Another summer's Day!" ], "linecount": "22" }, { "title": "Midsummer, was it, when They died --", "author": "Emily Dickinson", "lines": [ "Midsummer, was it, when They died --", "A full, and perfect time --", "The Summer closed upon itself", "In Consummated Bloom --", "", "The Corn, her furthest kernel filled", "Before the coming Flail --", "When These -- leaned unto Perfectness --", "Through Haze of Burial --" ], "linecount": "8" }, { "title": "The Summer Rain", "author": "Henry David Thoreau", "lines": [ "My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read,", "'Twixt every page my thoughts go stray at large", "Down in the meadow, where is richer feed,", "And will not mind to hit their proper targe.", "Plutarch was good, and so was Homer too,", "Our Shakespeare's life were rich to live again,", "What Plutarch read, that was not good nor true,", "Nor Shakespeare's books, unless his books were men.", "", "Here while I lie beneath this walnut bough,", "What care I for the Greeks or for Troy town,", "If juster battles are enacted now", "Between the ants upon this hummock's crown?", "", "Bid Homer wait till I the issue learn,", "If red or black the gods will favor most,", "Or yonder Ajax will the phalanx turn,", "Struggling to heave some rock against the host.", "", "Tell Shakespeare to attend some leisure hour,", "For now I've business with this drop of dew,", "And see you not, the clouds prepare a shower--", "I'll meet him shortly when the sky is blue.", "", "This bed of herd's grass and wild oats was spread", "Last year with nicer skill than monarchs use.", "A clover tuft is pillow for my head,", "And violets quite overtop my shoes.", "", "And now the cordial clouds have shut all in,", "And gently swells the wind to say all's well;", "The scattered drops are falling fast and thin,", "Some in the pool, some in the flower-bell.", "", "I am well drenched upon my bed of oats;", "But see that globe come rolling down its stem,", "Now like a lonely planet there it floats,", "And now it sinks into my garment's hem.", "", "Drip drip the trees for all the country round,", "And richness rare distills from every bough;", "The wind alone it is makes every sound,", "Shaking down crystals on the leaves below.", "", "For shame the sun will never show himself,", "Who could not with his beams e'er melt me so;", "My dripping locks--they would become an elf,", "Who in a beaded coat does gayly go." ], "linecount": "40" }, { "title": "RAIN IN SUMMER", "author": "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow", "lines": [ "How beautiful is the rain!", "After the dust and heat,", "In the broad and fiery street,", "In the narrow lane,", "How beautiful is the rain!", "", "How it clatters along the roofs,", "Like the tramp of hoofs", "How it gushes and struggles out", "From the throat of the overflowing spout!", "", "Across the window-pane", "It pours and pours;", "And swift and wide,", "With a muddy tide,", "Like a river down the gutter roars", "The rain, the welcome rain!", "", "The sick man from his chamber looks", "At the twisted brooks;", "He can feel the cool", "Breath of each little pool;", "His fevered brain", "Grows calm again,", "And he breathes a blessing on the rain.", "", "From the neighboring school", "Come the boys,", "With more than their wonted noise", "And commotion;", "And down the wet streets", "Sail their mimic fleets,", "Till the treacherous pool", "Ingulfs them in its whirling", "And turbulent ocean.", "", "In the country, on every side,", "Where far and wide,", "Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide,", "Stretches the plain,", "To the dry grass and the drier grain", "How welcome is the rain!", "", "In the furrowed land", "The toilsome and patient oxen stand;", "Lifting the yoke encumbered head,", "With their dilated nostrils spread,", "They silently inhale", "The clover-scented gale,", "And the vapors that arise", "From the well-watered and smoking soil.", "For this rest in the furrow after toil", "Their large and lustrous eyes", "Seem to thank the Lord,", "More than man's spoken word.", "", "Near at hand,", "From under the sheltering trees,", "The farmer sees", "His pastures, and his fields of grain,", "As they bend their tops", "To the numberless beating drops", "Of the incessant rain.", "He counts it as no sin", "That he sees therein", "Only his own thrift and gain.", "", "These, and far more than these,", "The Poet sees!", "He can behold", "Aquarius old", "Walking the fenceless fields of air;", "And from each ample fold", "Of the clouds about him rolled", "Scattering everywhere", "The showery rain,", "As the farmer scatters his grain.", "", "He can behold", "Things manifold", "That have not yet been wholly told,--", "Have not been wholly sung nor said.", "For his thought, that never stops,", "Follows the water-drops", "Down to the graves of the dead,", "Down through chasms and gulfs profound,", "To the dreary fountain-head", "Of lakes and rivers under ground;", "And sees them, when the rain is done,", "On the bridge of colors seven", "Climbing up once more to heaven,", "Opposite the setting sun.", "", "Thus the Seer,", "With vision clear,", "Sees forms appear and disappear,", "In the perpetual round of strange,", "Mysterious change", "From birth to death, from death to birth,", "From earth to heaven, from heaven to earth;", "Till glimpses more sublime", "Of things, unseen before,", "Unto his wondering eyes reveal", "The Universe, as an immeasurable wheel", "Turning forevermore", "In the rapid and rushing river of Time." ], "linecount": "96" }, { "title": "A Summer Afternoon", "author": "James Whitcomb Riley", "lines": [ "A languid atmosphere, a lazy breeze,", "With labored respiration, moves the wheat", "From distant reaches, till the golden seas", "Break in crisp whispers at my feet.", "", "My book, neglected of an idle mind,", "Hides for a moment from the eyes of men;", "Or lightly opened by a critic wind,", "Affrightedly reviews itself again.", "", "Off through the haze that dances in the shine", "The warm sun showers in the open glade,", "The forest lies, a silhouette design", "Dimmed through and through with shade.", "", "A dreamy day; and tranquilly I lie", "At anchor from all storms of mental strain;", "With absent vision, gazing at the sky,", "\"Like one that hears it rain.\"", "", "The Katydid, so boisterous last night,", "Clinging, inverted, in uneasy poise,", "Beneath a wheat-blade, has forgotten quite", "If \"Katy DID or DIDN'T\" make a noise.", "", "The twitter, sometimes, of a wayward bird", "That checks the song abruptly at the sound,", "And mildly, chiding echoes that have stirred,", "Sink into silence, all the more profound.", "", "And drowsily I hear the plaintive strain", "Of some poor dove . . . Why, I can scarcely keep", "My heavy eyelids--there it is again--", "\"Coo-coo!\"--I mustn't--\"Coo-coo!\"--fall asleep!" ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "Written On A Summer Evening", "author": "John Keats", "lines": [ "The church bells toll a melancholy round,", "Calling the people to some other prayers,", "Some other gloominess, more dreadful cares,", "More harkening to the sermon's horrid sound.", "Surely the mind of man is closely bound", "In some blind spell: seeing that each one tears", "Himself from fireside joys and Lydian airs,", "And converse high of those with glory crowned.", "Still, still they toll, and I should feel a damp,", "A chill as from a tomb, did I not know", "That they are dying like an outburnt lamp,—", "That 'tis their sighing, wailing, ere they go", "Into oblivion—that fresh flowers will grow,", "And many glories of immortal stamp." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "A Night-Rain in Summer", "author": "James Henry Leigh Hunt", "lines": [ "Open the window, and let the air", "Freshly blow upon face and hair,", "And fill the room, as it fills the night,", "With the breath of the rain's sweet might.", "Hark! the burthen, swift and prone!", "And how the odorous limes are blown!", "Stormy Love's abroad, and keeps", "Hopeful coil for gentle sleeps.", "", "Not a blink shall burn to-night", "In my chamber, of sordid light;", "Nought will I have, not a window-pane,", "'Twixt me and the air and the great good rain,", "Which ever shall sing me sharp lullabies;", "And God's own darkness shall close mine eyes;", "And I will sleep, with all things blest,", "In the pure earth-shadow of natural rest." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Summer Evening", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The sinking sun is taking leave,", "And sweetly gilds the edge of Eve,", "While huddling clouds of purple dye", "Gloomy hang the western sky.", "Crows crowd croaking over head,", "Hastening to the woods to bed.", "Cooing sits the lonely dove,", "Calling home her absent love.", "With \"Kirchup! Kirchup!\" mong the wheats", "Partridge distant partridge greets;", "Beckoning hints to those that roam,", "That guide the squandered covey home.", "Swallows check their winding flight,", "And twittering on the chimney light.", "Round the pond the martins flirt,", "Their snowy breasts bedaubed with dirt,", "While the mason, neath the slates,", "Each mortar-bearing bird awaits:", "By art untaught, each labouring spouse", "Curious daubs his hanging house.", "", "Bats flit by in hood and cowl;", "Through the barn-hole pops the owl;", "From the hedge, in drowsy hum,", "Heedless buzzing beetles bum,", "Haunting every bushy place,", "Flopping in the labourer's face.", "Now the snail hath made its ring;", "And the moth with snowy wing", "Circles round in winding whirls,", "Through sweet evening's sprinkled pearls,", "On each nodding rush besprent;", "Dancing on from bent to bent;", "Now to downy grasses clung,", "Resting for a while he's hung;", "Then, to ferry oer the stream,", "Vanishing as flies a dream;", "Playful still his hours to keep,", "Till his time has come to sleep;", "", "In tall grass, by fountain head,", "Weary then he drops to bed.", "From the hay-cock's moistened heaps,", "Startled frogs take vaunting leaps;", "And along the shaven mead,", "Jumping travellers, they proceed:", "Quick the dewy grass divides,", "Moistening sweet their speckled sides;", "From the grass or flowret's cup,", "Quick the dew-drop bounces up.", "Now the blue fog creeps along,", "And the bird's forgot his song:", "Flowers now sleep within their hoods;", "Daisies button into buds;", "From soiling dew the butter-cup", "Shuts his golden jewels up;", "And the rose and woodbine they", "Wait again the smiles of day.", "Neath the willow's wavy boughs,", "Dolly, singing, milks her cows;", "While the brook, as bubbling by,", "Joins in murmuring melody.", "Dick and Dob, with jostling joll,", "Homeward drag the rumbling roll;", "Whilom Ralph, for Doll to wait,", "Lolls him o'er the pasture gate.", "Swains to fold their sheep begin;", "Dogs loud barking drive them in.", "Hedgers now along the road", "Homeward bend beneath their load;", "And from the long furrowed seams,", "Ploughmen loose their weary teams:", "Ball, with urging lashes wealed,", "Still so slow to drive a-field,", "Eager blundering from the plough,", "Wants no whip to drive him now;", "At the stable-door he stands,", "Looking round for friendly hands", "", "To loose the door its fastening pin,", "And let him with his corn begin.", "Round the yard, a thousand ways,", "Beasts in expectation gaze,", "Catching at the loads of hay", "Passing fodderers tug away.", "Hogs with grumbling, deafening noise,", "Bother round the server boys;", "And, far and near, the motley group", "Anxious claim their suppering-up.", "", "From the rest, a blest release,", "Gabbling home, the quarreling geese", "Seek their warm straw-littered shed,", "And, waddling, prate away to bed.", "Nighted by unseen delay,", "Poking hens, that lose their way,", "On the hovel's rafters rise,", "Slumbering there, the fox's prize.", "Now the cat has ta'en her seat,", "With her tail curled round her feet;", "Patiently she sits to watch", "Sparrows fighting on the thatch.", "Now Doll brings the expected pails,", "And dogs begin to wag their tails;", "With strokes and pats they're welcomed in,", "And they with looking wants begin;", "Slove in the milk-pail brimming o'er,", "She pops their dish behind the door.", "Prone to mischief boys are met,", "Neath the eaves the ladder's set,", "Sly they climb in softest tread,", "To catch the sparrow on his bed;", "Massacred, O cruel pride!", "Dashed against the ladder's side.", "Curst barbarians! pass me by;", "Come not, Turks, my cottage nigh;", "Sure my sparrows are my own,", "Let ye then my birds alone.", "", "Come, poor birds, from foes severe", "Fearless come, you're welcome here;", "My heart yearns at fate like yours,", "A sparrow's life's as sweet as ours.", "Hardy clowns! grudge not the wheat", "Which hunger forces birds to eat:", "Your blinded eyes, worst foes to you,", "Can't see the good which sparrows do.", "Did not poor birds with watching rounds", "Pick up the insects from your grounds,", "Did they not tend your rising grain,", "You then might sow to reap in vain.", "Thus Providence, right understood,", "Whose end and aim is doing good,", "Sends nothing here without its use;", "Though ignorance loads it with abuse,", "And fools despise the blessing sent,", "And mock the Giver's good intent.--", "O God, let me what's good pursue,", "Let me the same to others do", "As I'd have others do to me,", "And learn at least humanity.", "", "Dark and darker glooms the sky;", "Sleep gins close the labourer's eye:", "Dobson leaves his greensward seat,", "Neighbours where they neighbours meet", "Crops to praise, and work in hand,", "And battles tell from foreign land.", "While his pipe is puffing out,", "Sue he's putting to the rout,", "Gossiping, who takes delight", "To shool her knitting out at night,", "And back-bite neighbours bout the town--", "Who's got new caps, and who a gown,", "And many a thing, her evil eye", "Can see they don't come honest by.", "Chattering at a neighbour's house,", "She hears call out her frowning spouse;", "Prepared to start, she soodles home,", "Her knitting twisting oer her thumb,", "As, both to leave, afraid to stay,", "She bawls her story all the way;", "The tale so fraught with 'ticing charms,", "Her apron folded oer her arms.", "She leaves the unfinished tale, in pain,", "To end as evening comes again:", "And in the cottage gangs with dread,", " To meet old Dobson's timely frown,", "Who grumbling sits, prepared for bed,", " While she stands chelping bout the town.", "", "The night-wind now, with sooty wings,", "In the cotter's chimney sings;", "Now, as stretching oer the bed,", "Soft I raise my drowsy head,", "Listening to the ushering charms,", "That shake the elm tree's mossy arms:", "Till sweet slumbers stronger creep,", " Deeper darkness stealing round,", "Then, as rocked, I sink to sleep,", " Mid the wild wind's lulling sound." ], "linecount": "174" }, { "title": "Summer in the South", "author": "Paul Laurence Dunbar", "lines": [ "The Oriole sings in the greening grove", "As if he were half-way waiting,", "The rosebuds peep from their hoods of green,", "Timid, and hesitating.", "The rain comes down in a torrent sweep", "And the nights smell warm and pinety,", "The garden thrives, but the tender shoots", "Are yellow-green and tiny.", "Then a flash of sun on a waiting hill,", "Streams laugh that erst were quiet,", "The sky smiles down with a dazzling blue", "And the woods run mad with riot." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The Summer Sun Shone Round Me", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "THE summer sun shone round me,", "The folded valley lay", "In a stream of sun and odour,", "That sultry summer day.", "", "The tall trees stood in the sunlight", "As still as still could be,", "But the deep grass sighed and rustled", "And bowed and beckoned me.", "", "The deep grass moved and whispered", "And bowed and brushed my face.", "It whispered in the sunshine:", "\"The winter comes apace.\"" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Tis the Last Rose of Summer", "author": "Thomas Moore", "lines": [ "Tis the last rose of summer", "Left blooming alone;", "All her lovely companions", "Are faded and gone:", "No flower of her kindred,", "No rose-bud is nigh,", "To reflect back her blushes,", "Or give sigh for sigh.", "", "I'll not leave thee, thou lone one!", "To pine on the stem;", "Since the lovely are sleeping,", "Go, sleep thou with them.", "Thus kindly I scatter", "Thy leaves o'er the bed,", "Where thy mates of the garden", "Lie scentless and dead.", "", "So soon may I follow,", "When friendships decay,", "And from Love's shining circle", "The gems drop away.", "When true hearts lie wither'd,", "And fond ones are flown,", "Oh! who would inhabit", "This bleak world alone?" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Summer Sun", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "Great is the sun, and wide he goes", "Through empty heaven with repose;", "And in the blue and glowing days", "More thick than rain he showers his rays.", "", "Though closer still the blinds we pull", "To keep the shady parlour cool,", "Yet he will find a chink or two", "To slip his golden fingers through.", "", "The dusty attic spider-clad", "He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;", "And through the broken edge of tiles", "Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.", "", "Meantime his golden face around", "He bares to all the garden ground,", "And sheds a warm and glittering look", "Among the ivy's inmost nook.", "", "Above the hills, along the blue,", "Round the bright air with footing true,", "To please the child, to paint the rose,", "The gardener of the World, he goes." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "St. Martin's Summer", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "AS swallows turning backward", "When half-way o'er the sea,", "At one word's trumpet summons", "They came again to me -", "The hopes I had forgotten", "Came back again to me.", "", "I know not which to credit,", "O lady of my heart!", "Your eyes that bade me linger,", "Your words that bade us part -", "I know not which to credit,", "My reason or my heart.", "", "But be my hopes rewarded,", "Or be they but in vain,", "I have dreamed a golden vision,", "I have gathered in the grain -", "I have dreamed a golden vision,", "I have not lived in vain." ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "Bed in Summer", "author": "Robert Louis Stevenson", "lines": [ "In winter I get up at night", "And dress by yellow candle-light.", "In summer quite the other way,", "I have to go to bed by day.", "", "I have to go to bed and see", "The birds still hopping on the tree,", "Or hear the grown-up people's feet", "Still going past me in the street.", "", "And does it not seem hard to you,", "When all the sky is clear and blue,", "And I should like so much to play,", "To have to go to bed by day?" ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "While Summer Suns O'er the Gay Prospect Play'd", "author": "Thomas Warton", "lines": [ "While summer suns o'er the gay prospect play'd,", "Through Surrey's verdant scenes, where Epsom spread", "'Mid intermingling elms her flowery meads,", "And Hascombe's hill, in towering groves array'd,", "Rear'd its romantic steep, with mind serene,", "I journey'd blithe. Full pensive I return'd;", "For now my breast with hopeless passion burn'd,", "Wet with hoar mists appear'd the gaudy scene,", "Which late in careless indolence I pass'd;", "And Autumn all around those hues had cast", "Where past delight my recent grief might trace.", "Sad change, that Nature a congenial gloom", "Should wear, when most, my cheerless mood to chase,", "I wish'd her green attire, and wonted bloom!" ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "In spring and summer winds may blow", "author": "Walter Savage Landor", "lines": [ "In spring and summer winds may blow,", "And rains fall after, hard and fast;", "The tender leaves, if beaten low,", "Shine but the more for shower and blast", "", "But when their fated hour arrives,", "When reapers long have left the field,", "When maidens rifle turn'd-up hives,", "And their last juice fresh apples yield,", "", "A leaf perhaps may still remain", "Upon some solitary tree,", "Spite of the wind and of the rain . . .", "A thing you heed not if you see.", "", "At last it falls. Who cares? Not one:", "And yet no power on earth can ever", "Replace the fallen leaf upon", "Its spray, so easy to dissever.", "", "If such be love, I dare not say.", "Friendship is such, too well I know:", "I have enjoyed my summer day;", "'Tis past; my leaf now lies below." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Summer", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "Summer looked for long am I:", "Much shall change or e'er I die.", "Prithee take it not amiss", "Though I weary thee with bliss." ], "linecount": "4" }, { "title": "Between the Dusk of a Summer Night", "author": "William Ernest Henley", "lines": [ "Between the dusk of a summer night", "And the dawn of a summer day,", "We caught at a mood as it passed in flight,", "And we bade it stoop and stay.", "And what with the dawn of night began", "With the dusk of day was done;", "For that is the way of woman and man,", "When a hazard has made them one.", "Arc upon arc, from shade to shine,", "The World went thundering free;", "And what was his errand but hers and mine --", "The lords of him, I and she?", "O, it's die we must, but it's live we can,", "And the marvel of earth and sun", "Is all for the joy of woman and man", "And the longing that makes them one." ], "linecount": "16" }, { "title": "Summer Dawn", "author": "William Morris", "lines": [ "Pray but one prayer for me 'twixt thy closed lips,", "Think but one thought of me up in the stars.", "The summer night waneth, the morning light slips,", "Faint and grey 'twixt the leaves of the aspen, betwixt the cloud-bars", "That are patiently waiting there for the dawn:", "Patient and colourless, though Heaven's gold", "Waits to float through them along with the sun.", "Far out in the meadows, above the young corn,", "The heavy elms wait, and restless and cold", "The uneasy wind rises; the roses are dun;", "Through the long twilight they pray for the dawn,", "Round the lone house in the midst of the corn,", "Speak but one word to me over the corn,", "Over the tender, bow'd locks of the corn." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Summer Wind", "author": "William Cullen Bryant", "lines": [ "It is a sultry day; the sun has drank", "The dew that lay upon the morning grass,", "There is no rustling in the lofty elm", "That canopies my dwelling, and its shade", "Scarce cools me. All is silent, save the faint", "And interrupted murmur of the bee,", "Settling on the sick flowers, and then again", "Instantly on the wing. The plants around", "Feel the too potent fervors; the tall maize", "Rolls up its long green leaves; the clover droops", "Its tender foliage, and declines its blooms.", "But far in the fierce sunshine tower the hills,", "With all their growth of woods, silent and stern,", "As if the scortching heat and dazzling light", "Were but an element they loved. Bright clouds,", "Motionless pillars of the brazen heaven;--", "Their bases on the mountains--their white tops", "Shining in the far ether--fire the air", "With a reflected radiance, and make turn", "The gazer's eye away. For me, I lie", "Languidly in the shade, where the thick turf,", "Yet virgin from the kisses of the sun,", "Retains some freshness, and I woo the wind", "That still delays its coming. Why so slow,", "Gentle and voluble spirit of the air?", "Oh, come and breathe upon the fainting earth", "Coolness and life. Is it that in his caves", "He hears me? See, on yonder woody ridge,", "The pine is bending his proud top, and now,", "Among the nearer groves, chesnut and oak", "Are tossing their green boughs about. He comes!", "Lo, where the grassy meadow runs in wives!", "The deep distressful silence of the scene", "Breaks up with mingling of unnumbered sounds", "And universal motion. He is come,", "Shaking a shower of blossoms from the shrubs,", "And bearing on the fragrance; and he brings", "Music of birds, and rustling of young boughs,", "And soun of swaying branches, and the voice", "Of distant waterfalls. All the green herbs", "Are stirring in his breath; a thousand flowers,", "By the road-side and the borders of the brook,", "Nod gaily to each other; glossy leaves", "Are twinkling in the sun, as if the dew", "Were on them yet, and silver waters break", "Into small waves and sparkle as he comes." ], "linecount": "46" }, { "title": "Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?", "author": "William Shakespeare", "lines": [ "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?", "Thou art more lovely and more temperate:", "Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,", "And summer's lease hath all too short a date:", "Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,", "And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,", "And every fair from fair sometime declines,", "By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd:", "But thy eternal summer shall not fade,", "Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,", "Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,", "When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,", " So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,", " So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Summer Evening", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The frog half fearful jumps across the path,", "And little mouse that leaves its hole at eve", "Nimbles with timid dread beneath the swath;", "My rustling steps awhile their joys deceive,", "Till past,--and then the cricket sings more strong,", "And grasshoppers in merry moods still wear", "The short night weary with their fretting song.", "Up from behind the molehill jumps the hare,", "Cheat of his chosen bed, and from the bank", "The yellowhammer flutters in short fears", "From off its nest hid in the grasses rank,", "And drops again when no more noise it hears.", "Thus nature's human link and endless thrall,", "Proud man, still seems the enemy of all." ], "linecount": "14" }, { "title": "Summer Winds", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ "The wind waves oer the meadows green", " And shakes my own wild flowers", "And shifts about the moving scene", " Like the life of summer hours;", "The little bents with reedy head,", " The scarce seen shapes of flowers,", "All kink about like skeins of thread", " In these wind-shaken hours.", "", "All stir and strife and life and bustle", " In everything around one sees;", "The rushes whistle, sedges rustle,", " The grass is buzzing round like bees;", "The butterflies are tossed about", " Like skiffs upon a stormy sea;", "The bees are lost amid the rout", " And drop in [their] perplexity.", "", "Wilt thou be mine, thou bonny lass?", " Thy drapery floats so gracefully;", "We'll walk along the meadow grass,", " We'll stand beneath the willow tree.", "We'll mark the little reeling bee", " Along the grassy ocean rove,", "Tossed like a little boat at sea,", " And interchange our vows of love." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Thou Flower of Summer", "author": "John Clare", "lines": [ " When in summer thou walkest", " In the meads by the river,", " And to thyself talkest,", " Dost thou think of one ever--", " A lost and a lorn one", " That adores thee and loves thee?", " And when happy morn's gone,", " And nature's calm moves thee,", "Leaving thee to thy sleep like an angel at rest,", "Does the one who adores thee still live in thy breast?", "", " Does nature eer give thee", " Love's past happy vision,", " And wrap thee and leave thee", " In fancies elysian?", " Thy beauty I clung to,", " As leaves to the tree;", " When thou fair and young too", " Looked lightly on me,", "Till love came upon thee like the sun to the west", "And shed its perfuming and bloom on thy breast." ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "Verses Found in a Summer-House at Hales-Owen", "author": "George Gordon, Lord Byron", "lines": [ "When Dryden's fool, \"unknowing what he sought,\"", "His hours in whistling spent, \"for want of thought,\"", "This guiltless oaf his vacancy of sense", "Supplied, and amply too, by innocence:", "Did modern swains, possessed of Cymon's powers,", "In Cymon's manner waste their leisure hours,", "Th' offended guests would not, with blushing, see", "These fair green walks disgraced by infamy.", "Severe the fate of modern fools, alas!", "When vice and folly mark them as they pass.", "Like noxious reptiles o'er the whitened wall,", "The filth they leave still points out where they crawl." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "Summer,", "author": "Alexander Pope", "lines": [ "THE SECOND PASTORAL, OR ALEXIS.", "", "TO DR GARTH.", "", "A shepherd's boy (he seeks no better name)", "Led forth his flocks along the silver Thame,", "Where dancing sunbeams on the waters play'd,", "And verdant alders form'd a quivering shade.", "Soft as he mourn'd, the streams forgot to flow,", "The flocks around a dumb compassion show:", "The Naïads wept in every watery bower,", "And Jove consented in a silent shower.", "", "Accept, O Garth the Muse's early lays,", "That adds this wreath of ivy to thy bays;", "Hear what from love unpractised hearts endure:", "From love, the sole disease thou canst not cure.", "", "Ye shady beeches, and ye cooling streams,", "Defence from Phoebus', not from Cupid's beams,", "To you I mourn, nor to the deaf I sing,", "'The woods shall answer, and their echo ring.'", "The hills and rocks attend my doleful lay;", "Why art thou prouder and more hard than they?", "The bleating sheep with my complaints agree,", "They parch'd with heat, and I inflamed by thee.", "The sultry Sirius burns the thirsty plains,", "While in thy heart eternal winter reigns.", "", "Where stray ye, Muses, in what lawn or grove,", "While your Alexis pines in hopeless love?", "In those fair fields where sacred Isis glides,", "Or else where Cam his winding vales divides?", "As in the crystal spring I view my face,", "Fresh rising blushes paint the watery glass;", "But since those graces please thy eyes no more,", "I shun the fountains which I sought before.", "Once I was skill'd in every herb that grew,", "And every plant that drinks the morning dew;", "Ah, wretched shepherd, what avails thy art,", "To cure thy lambs, but not to heal thy heart!", "Let other swains attend the rural care,", "Feed fairer flocks, or richer fleeces shear:", "But nigh yon mountain let me tune my lays,", "Embrace my love, and bind my brows with bays.", "That flute is mine which Colin's tuneful breath", "Inspired when living, and bequeath'd in death;", "He said, 'Alexis, take this pipe--the same", "That taught the groves my Rosalinda's name:'", "But now the reeds shall hang on yonder tree,", "For ever silent, since despised by thee.", "Oh! were I made by some transforming power", "The captive bird that sings within thy bower!", "Then might my voice thy listening ears employ,", "And I those kisses he receives, enjoy.", "", "And yet my numbers please the rural throng,", "Rough Satyrs dance, and Pan applauds the song:", "The Nymphs, forsaking every cave and spring,", "Their early fruit, and milk-white turtles bring;", "Each amorous nymph prefers her gifts in vain.", "On you their gifts are all bestow'd again.", "For you the swains the fairest flowers design,", "And in one garland all their beauties join;", "Accept the wreath which you deserve alone,", "In whom all beauties are comprised in one.", "", "See what delights in sylvan scenes appear!", "Descending gods have found Elysium here.", "In woods bright Venus with Adonis stray'd,", "And chaste Diana haunts the forest shade.", "Come, lovely nymph, and bless the silent hours,", "When swains from shearing seek their nightly bowers,", "When weary reapers quit the sultry field,", "And crown'd with corn their thanks to Ceres yield;", "This harmless grove no lurking viper hides,", "But in my breast the serpent love abides.", "Here bees from blossoms sip the rosy dew,", "But your Alexis knows no sweets but you.", "Oh, deign to visit our forsaken seats,", "The mossy fountains, and the green retreats!", "Where'er you walk, cool gales shall fan the glade,", "Trees, where you sit, shall crowd into a shade:", "Where'er you tread, the blushing flowers shall rise,", "And all things flourish where you turn your eyes.", "Oh, how I long with you to pass my days,", "Invoke the Muses, and resound your praise!", "Your praise the birds shall chant in every grove,", "And winds shall waft it to the Powers above.", "But would you sing, and rival Orpheus' strain,", "The wondering forests soon should dance again,", "The moving mountains hear the powerful call,", "And headlong streams hang listening in their fall!", "", "But see, the shepherds shun the noonday heat,", "The lowing herds to murmuring brooks retreat,", "To closer shades the panting flocks remove;", "Ye gods! and is there no relief for love?", "But soon the sun with milder rays descends", "To the cool ocean, where his journey ends:", "On me Love's fiercer flames for ever prey,", "By night he scorches, as he burns by day." ], "linecount": "94" }, { "title": "A Summer Evening Churchyard", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "LECHLADE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE.", "", "The wind has swept from the wide atmosphere", "Each vapour that obscured the sunset's ray;", "And pallid Evening twines its beaming hair", "In duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day:", "Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men,", "Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen.", "", "They breathe their spells towards the departing day,", "Encompassing the earth, air, stars, and sea;", "Light, sound, and motion own the potent sway,", "Responding to the charm with its own mystery.", "The winds are still, or the dry church-tower grass", "Knows not their gentle motions as they pass.", "", "Thou too, aereal Pile! whose pinnacles", "Point from one shrine like pyramids of fire,", "Obeyest in silence their sweet solemn spells,", "Clothing in hues of heaven thy dim and distant spire,", "Around whose lessening and invisible height", "Gather among the stars the clouds of night.", "", "The dead are sleeping in their sepulchres:", "And, mouldering as they sleep, a thrilling sound,", "Half sense, half thought, among the darkness stirs,", "Breathed from their wormy beds all living things around,", "And mingling with the still night and mute sky", "Its awful hush is felt inaudibly.", "", "Thus solemnized and softened, death is mild", "And terrorless as this serenest night:", "Here could I hope, like some inquiring child", "Sporting on graves, that death did hide from human sight", "Sweet secrets, or beside its breathless sleep", "That loveliest dreams perpetual watch did keep." ], "linecount": "31" }, { "title": "Summer and Winter", "author": "Percy Bysshe Shelley", "lines": [ "It was a bright and cheerful afternoon,", "Towards the end of the sunny month of June,", "When the north wind congregates in crowds", "The floating mountains of the silver clouds", "From the horizon--and the stainless sky", "Opens beyond them like eternity.", "All things rejoiced beneath the sun; the weeds,", "The river, and the corn-fields, and the reeds;", "The willow leaves that glanced in the light breeze,", "And the firm foliage of the larger trees.", "", "It was a winter such as when birds die", "In the deep forests; and the fishes lie", "Stiffened in the translucent ice, which makes", "Even the mud and slime of the warm lakes", "A wrinkled clod as hard as brick; and when,", "Among their children, comfortable men", "Gather about great fires, and yet feel cold:", "Alas, then, for the homeless beggar old!" ], "linecount": "18" } ]