For a Summer Festival.
1 Beneath Thy trees to-day we met,
Amid Thy summer flowers;
And every heart is blessing yet
These happy, fleeting hours.
2 But creeping shades to vespers call,
And timely lore impart,
To make our latest shadows fall
From sunshine in the heart.
3 Yes, even so; the summer leaf,
The summer flowers, declare
Their childlike, chastening belief,
That Thou dost make them fair.
4 O, let us cherish nature's creed,
And live and bloom to Thee;
For only childlike hearts, we read,
Can grace eternity.