Summer Days

Wathen Marks Wilks Call (1817–1890)

IN summer, when the days were long,

We walked together in the wood:

Our heart was light, our steps were strong;

Sweet flutterings were there in our blood,

In summer, when the days were long.

We strayed from morn till evening came;

We gathered flowers, and wove us crowns;

We walked mid poppies red as flame,

Or sat upon the yellow downs;

And always wished our life the same.

In summer, when the days were long,

We leaped the hedge-row, crossed the brook;

And still her voice flowed forth in song,

Or else she read some graceful book,

In summer, when the days were long.

And then we sat beneath the trees,

With shadows lessening in the noon;

And in the sunlight and the breeze,

We feasted many a gorgeous June,

While larks were singing o’er the leas.

In summer, when the days were long,

On dainty chicken, snow-white bread,

We feasted, with no grace but song;

We plucked wild strawberries, ripe and red,

In summer, when the days were long.

We loved, and yet we knew it not,—

For loving seemed like breathing then;

We found a heaven in every spot;

Saw angels, too, in all good men;

And dreamed of God in grove and grot.

In summer, when the days are long,

Alone I wander, muse alone.

I see her not; but that old song

Under the fragrant wind is blown,

In summer, when the days are long.

Alone I wander in the wood:

But one fair spirit hears my sighs;

And half I see, so glad and good,

The honest daylight of her eyes,

That charmed me under earlier skies.

In summer, when the days are long,

I love her as we loved of old.

My heart is light, my step is strong;

For love brings back those hours of gold,

In summer, when the days are long.