The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse
The Month of RipenessWilliam Wilfred Campbell (18611918)
T
When all the slopes are sunny;
When with jocund, dreamy tune,
The bees are in the honey
When with purple flowers,
A-flaming in the sun,
The drowsy hours
Thread, one by one,
The golden pleasaunces.
Then, of all the seasons,
Old Earth for inward rhyme
Is full of golden reasons;—
Then the ripening gourd,
The sun-kissed garden wall,
The purpling hoard,
The flocks that call
Adown the distances.
Thou Month without alloy;
To younger seasons of the year
Resign the flag of joy;
But thou, be what thou art,
Full brooding to the brim
Of dreams apart
And purlieus dim
Of leafy silences.