Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Michael Field

Wind of Summer

Field-M

O WIND, thou hast thy kingdom in the trees,

And all thy royalties

Sweep through the land to-day.

It is mid June,

And thou, with all thine instruments in tune,

Thine orchestra

Of heaving fields, and heavy, swinging fir,

Strikest a lay

That doth rehearse

Her ancient freedom to the universe.

All other sound in awe

Repeals its law;

The bird is mute, the sea

Sucks up its waves, from rain

The burthened clouds refrain,

To listen to thee in thy leafery,

Thou unconfined,

Lavish, large, soothing, refluent summer-wind.