The summer skies are darkly blue

The shy little may-flower weaves her nest; But the south wind blows o'er the fragrant loam, And betrays the path to her woodland home.

Beside the brook and on the umbered meadow, Where yellow fern-tufts fleck the faded ground, With folded lids beneath their palmy shadow, The gentian nods, in dewy slumbers bound.

Enchantress of the stormy seas, Priestess of Night's high mysteries!

Warm lights are on the sleepy uplands waning Beneath dark clouds along the horizon rolled, Till the slant sunbeams, through the fringes raining, Bathe all the hills in melancholy gold.

When summer gathers up her robes of glory, And, like a dream of beauty, glides away.

And still the aster greets us, as we pass, With her faint smile,—among the withered grass.