INDIAN SUMMER.

INDIAN SUMMER.

Linger, O Day!Let not thy purple hazeFade utterly away!The Indian Summer laysHer tender touch upon the emerald hills;Exquisite thrillsOf delicate gladness fill the blue-veined air.More restful even than rest,The passionate sweetness that is everywhere.Soft splendors in the westTouch with the charm of coming changefulnessThe yielding hills.O linger, Day!Let not the dearDelicious languor of thy dreamfulnessVanish away!Serene and clear,The brooding stillness of the delicate air,Dreamier than the dreamiest depths of sleep,Falls softly everywhere.Still let me keepOne little hour longer tryst with thee,O Day of days!Lean down to me,In tender beauty of thy amethyst haze!Upon the vineRich, clinging clusters of the ripening grapeHang silent in the sun;But in each oneBeats with full throb the quickening purple wineWhose pulse shall round the perfect fruit to shape.Too dreamy even to dream,I hear the murmuring bee and gliding stream;The singing silence of the afternoonLulling my drowsy senses till they swoonInto still deeper rest;While soul released from sense,Passionate and intense,With quick, exultant quiver in its wings,Prophetic longing for diviner things,Escapes the unthinking breast;—Pierces rejoicing through the shining mist,But shrinks before the keen, cold ether, kissedBy burning stars: delirious foretasteOf joys the soul—(too eager in its hasteTo grasp ere won by the diviner rightOf birth through death)—is far too weak to bear!Bathed in earth’s lesser light,Slipping down slowly through the shining air,Once more it steals into the dreaming breast,Praying again to be its patient guest;And as my senses wake,The beautiful glad soul again to take,The twilight falls;—A lonely wood-thrush callsThe Day away.Thou needst not linger, Day!My soul and IWould hold high converse of diviner thingsThan blossom underneath thy tender sky.Unfold thy wings!Wrap softly round thyself thy delicate haze,And gliding down the slowly darkening ways,Vanish away!

Linger, O Day!Let not thy purple hazeFade utterly away!The Indian Summer laysHer tender touch upon the emerald hills;Exquisite thrillsOf delicate gladness fill the blue-veined air.More restful even than rest,The passionate sweetness that is everywhere.Soft splendors in the westTouch with the charm of coming changefulnessThe yielding hills.O linger, Day!Let not the dearDelicious languor of thy dreamfulnessVanish away!Serene and clear,The brooding stillness of the delicate air,Dreamier than the dreamiest depths of sleep,Falls softly everywhere.Still let me keepOne little hour longer tryst with thee,O Day of days!Lean down to me,In tender beauty of thy amethyst haze!Upon the vineRich, clinging clusters of the ripening grapeHang silent in the sun;But in each oneBeats with full throb the quickening purple wineWhose pulse shall round the perfect fruit to shape.Too dreamy even to dream,I hear the murmuring bee and gliding stream;The singing silence of the afternoonLulling my drowsy senses till they swoonInto still deeper rest;While soul released from sense,Passionate and intense,With quick, exultant quiver in its wings,Prophetic longing for diviner things,Escapes the unthinking breast;—Pierces rejoicing through the shining mist,But shrinks before the keen, cold ether, kissedBy burning stars: delirious foretasteOf joys the soul—(too eager in its hasteTo grasp ere won by the diviner rightOf birth through death)—is far too weak to bear!Bathed in earth’s lesser light,Slipping down slowly through the shining air,Once more it steals into the dreaming breast,Praying again to be its patient guest;And as my senses wake,The beautiful glad soul again to take,The twilight falls;—A lonely wood-thrush callsThe Day away.Thou needst not linger, Day!My soul and IWould hold high converse of diviner thingsThan blossom underneath thy tender sky.Unfold thy wings!Wrap softly round thyself thy delicate haze,And gliding down the slowly darkening ways,Vanish away!

Linger, O Day!Let not thy purple hazeFade utterly away!The Indian Summer laysHer tender touch upon the emerald hills;Exquisite thrillsOf delicate gladness fill the blue-veined air.More restful even than rest,The passionate sweetness that is everywhere.Soft splendors in the westTouch with the charm of coming changefulnessThe yielding hills.O linger, Day!Let not the dearDelicious languor of thy dreamfulnessVanish away!Serene and clear,The brooding stillness of the delicate air,Dreamier than the dreamiest depths of sleep,Falls softly everywhere.Still let me keepOne little hour longer tryst with thee,O Day of days!Lean down to me,In tender beauty of thy amethyst haze!Upon the vineRich, clinging clusters of the ripening grapeHang silent in the sun;But in each oneBeats with full throb the quickening purple wineWhose pulse shall round the perfect fruit to shape.Too dreamy even to dream,I hear the murmuring bee and gliding stream;The singing silence of the afternoonLulling my drowsy senses till they swoonInto still deeper rest;While soul released from sense,Passionate and intense,With quick, exultant quiver in its wings,Prophetic longing for diviner things,Escapes the unthinking breast;—Pierces rejoicing through the shining mist,But shrinks before the keen, cold ether, kissedBy burning stars: delirious foretasteOf joys the soul—(too eager in its hasteTo grasp ere won by the diviner rightOf birth through death)—is far too weak to bear!Bathed in earth’s lesser light,Slipping down slowly through the shining air,Once more it steals into the dreaming breast,Praying again to be its patient guest;And as my senses wake,The beautiful glad soul again to take,The twilight falls;—A lonely wood-thrush callsThe Day away.Thou needst not linger, Day!My soul and IWould hold high converse of diviner thingsThan blossom underneath thy tender sky.Unfold thy wings!Wrap softly round thyself thy delicate haze,And gliding down the slowly darkening ways,Vanish away!

Linger, O Day!

Let not thy purple haze

Fade utterly away!

The Indian Summer lays

Her tender touch upon the emerald hills;

Exquisite thrills

Of delicate gladness fill the blue-veined air.

More restful even than rest,

The passionate sweetness that is everywhere.

Soft splendors in the west

Touch with the charm of coming changefulness

The yielding hills.

O linger, Day!

Let not the dear

Delicious languor of thy dreamfulness

Vanish away!

Serene and clear,

The brooding stillness of the delicate air,

Dreamier than the dreamiest depths of sleep,

Falls softly everywhere.

Still let me keep

One little hour longer tryst with thee,

O Day of days!

Lean down to me,

In tender beauty of thy amethyst haze!

Upon the vine

Rich, clinging clusters of the ripening grape

Hang silent in the sun;

But in each one

Beats with full throb the quickening purple wine

Whose pulse shall round the perfect fruit to shape.

Too dreamy even to dream,

I hear the murmuring bee and gliding stream;

The singing silence of the afternoon

Lulling my drowsy senses till they swoon

Into still deeper rest;

While soul released from sense,

Passionate and intense,

With quick, exultant quiver in its wings,

Prophetic longing for diviner things,

Escapes the unthinking breast;—

Pierces rejoicing through the shining mist,

But shrinks before the keen, cold ether, kissed

By burning stars: delirious foretaste

Of joys the soul—(too eager in its haste

To grasp ere won by the diviner right

Of birth through death)—is far too weak to bear!

Bathed in earth’s lesser light,

Slipping down slowly through the shining air,

Once more it steals into the dreaming breast,

Praying again to be its patient guest;

And as my senses wake,

The beautiful glad soul again to take,

The twilight falls;—

A lonely wood-thrush calls

The Day away.

Thou needst not linger, Day!

My soul and I

Would hold high converse of diviner things

Than blossom underneath thy tender sky.

Unfold thy wings!

Wrap softly round thyself thy delicate haze,

And gliding down the slowly darkening ways,

Vanish away!


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