{135}
Summer is drawn naked, bearing an ear of corn, just arriving at its
fulness, to denote the harvest yielded by its light and heat; with a scythe
in her hand, to intimate that it is the season of harvest.
A welcome to the summer's pleasant song,
A welcome to the summer's golden hour,
A welcome to the myriad joys that throng,
With a deep loveliness, o'er tree and flower,
The earth is glad with beauty, the sky
Smiles in calm grandeur over vale and hill,
And the breeze murmurs forth a gentle sigh,
And the fish leap from out the smiling rill.
The town's pale denizens come forth to breathe.
The free, fresh air, and lave their fevered brows;
And beauty loves young fairy flowers to wreathe
Beneath some stately forest's antique boughs.
Oh! art hath nought like this, the very air
Breatheth of beauty, banishing despair."