Summer, summer, lovely summer,
⁠List, O list to what I say;
Is thy reign so quickly ended?
⁠Canst thou, then, no longer stay?

Autumn cometh, crowned with glory;
⁠What is that, I pray, to me?
All my soul the dearest loveth,
⁠Summer, is entwined with thee.

'Mid thy green leaves' shimmering glory,
⁠Waving in the baliny air,
Hope peers forth, with smile entrancing,
⁠Tells me life is passing fair.

And the roses' bloomy petals
⁠Whisper softly in mine ear
Breezy poems, sweet romances,
⁠Tender songs I love to hear.

Velvet pansies, nodding near me,
⁠Tell of happy, golden hours,
And some, useful, heaven-taught lesson
⁠Do I learn from all the flowers.

Waving ferns, by brooklets springing,
⁠Perfumed lilies, fair of face,
Whisper low of modest virtue,
⁠Purity and joy and grace.

With the spring my fond hopes budded,
⁠And in thy rich loveliness
Have they grown, and bloomed and blossomed
⁠Into ripest perfectness.

And when autumn leaves are faded,
⁠And the winds of winter blow,
Shall they, like thy peaceful beauty,
⁠Hidden lie beneath the snow?

Summer, summer, lovely summer,
⁠If thy parting hour is near,
Leave me peace and love and blessings,
⁠Guardian angels for the year.

Summer, may thy memory linger
⁠In my heart forevermore,
And, the dreary winter ended,
⁠May I welcome thee once more.

Within the heart a merry bird
⁠Poured out through life's dull toils its music sweet;
What though one soul alone its warblings heard,
⁠And to itself its carols would repeat.

Tempest nor cold could drive the bird away —
⁠Through leafless boughs still swept its tireless song;
Sadder, perhaps, when skies were lowering, gray,
⁠But with the rosy tints how loud, how long.

Hunger nor thirst could bid the bird depart,
⁠Around for want's scant crumbs it warbling flew;
In the forsaken chambers of the heart,
⁠Through poverty, its lays the sweeter grew.

And when despair the cage wide open set,
⁠Still did it linger, still it would not go —
Its daily welcome it could not forget,
⁠It had its cheering notes even for woe!

And when affection's hand must loose its hold,
⁠And loving accents fail the death-dulled ear,
Still in the heart its wings 't will softly fold,
⁠Still will its song the passing spirit cheer.

Just a few words, but they blinded
⁠The brightness all out of a day;
Just a few words, but they lifted
⁠The shadows and cast them away.

Oh! the pain of the wounds,
⁠Of the harden'd word's sting;
Oh! the balm and the brightness
⁠That kind ones will bring.

Only a frown, but it dampen'd
⁠The cheer of a dear little heart;
Only a smile, but its sweetness
⁠Check'd tears that were ready to start.

Sullen frowns — how they chill,
⁠Happy smiles — how they lure
One to smile, one to raise,
⁠One to kill, one to cure.

Oh that the rules of our living
⁠More like to the golden would be!
Much, oh! so much more of sunshine
⁠Would go out from you and from me.

Less profession, more truth,
⁠In our every-day life,
More justice, then surely,
⁠Lighter hearts and less strife.

For better and kinder we all mean to be.
⁠But there's lack in the thinking of both you and me.