JUNE CHEER
AND what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days:
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:
Whether we look or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten:
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within that reaches and towers,
And grasping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers.
Now is the high tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away,
Comes floating back with a ripply cheer
Into every inlet, and creek, and bay:
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it;
We are happy now because God so wills it:
No matter how barren the past may have been,
'Tis enough for us now that the leaves are green;
We sit in the warm shade and feel right well;
How the sap creeps up and the blossoms swell!
We may shut our eyes, but we cannot help knowing
That skies are blue and grass is growing.
James Russell Lowell.