The Poetry Corner

Summer Songs

By Richard Le Gallienne

I How thick the grass, How green the shade - All for love And lovers made. Wood-lilies white As hidden lace - Open your bodice, That's their place. See how the sun-god Overpowers The summer lying Deep in flowers; With burning kisses Of bright gold Fills her young womb With joy untold; And all the world Is lad and lass, A blue sky And a couch of grass. Summer is here - let us drain It all! it may Not come again. II How the leaves thicken On the boughs, And the birds make Their lyric vows. O the beating, breaking Heart of things, The pulse and passion - How it sings. How it burns and flames And showers, Lusts and laughs, flowers And deflowers. III Summer came, Rose on rose; Leaf on leaf, Summer goes. Summer came, Song on song; O summer had A golden tongue. Summer goes, Sigh on sigh; Not a rose Sees him die.