Summer Returning

Lying in the summer grass,
Surrounded by the waves of green
That break about us, smooth as glass,
Crowned with gold like any queen,
We can barely move or stir.
All about us glows the summer.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

The tree above us sheds a scent
As sweet as roses in full bloom,
The smell of leaves magnificent,
Full and waxy, casting a gloom
In which, undisturbed, we lie,
Hearing summer go singing by.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

The day is hot, the sunlight thick
As melted chocolate on our hair.
Head to head we lie, and lick
Now and then at the heated air
Alert for the slightest breeze
That us from heat a moment frees.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

Cocooned in the gold we lie,
The light crowding down to limn
The backlid of each closed eye
With a smoldering fire dim.
Heat more than the light has come
As we turn our faces to the sun.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

Here and there the insects sing:
The bees buzzing about the flowers,
Ready with both sweet and sting;
The grasshoppers in their bowers
Crooning out a chirp and chir,
Serenading the lady summer.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

Here and there the birds still sing:
The bluejay crying harsh and loud;
Numerous songbirds that sway and swing,
Their voices not half so proud
As the taunting cackle of the jay
Warning predators to stay away.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

The sand and the wooden box it's in
Grow warm from the sunlight slanting.
Barely cooled by the laughing wind,
Our dog lies close beside us, panting.
She moves only when she's made,
Not leaving sunlight for the shade.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

A chance of coolness we possess,
Of color in the crowding green:
A spilling fudge-covered mess,
A cone topped with mounded ice cream.
We suck away at them as we lie;
Our tongues cool and turn dry.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

The green-gold color of leaves in sunlight
Is the loveliest of all the world's hues,
Save the one that sets the sky alight-
The gentlest of all the world's blues.
The dome of an egg, it curls to hide,
To cradle the gold-green chick inside.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

Lying asleep beside our kitten
Whose black fur has turned to heat,
Soft as an unneeded mitten,
Our dreams can nothing be but sweet;
For they are soft and full of gleams,
Not truly dreams but daydreams.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

The summer sky is full of stars
Drowsing above the world into light,
Slowly guiding their creaking cars
Into the fields of the night,
Letting their silver horses graze
On the grass that grows in days.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.

The world around us, green and gold,
Heals and soothes us, with its sunlight,
By being the anathema of cold,
By making all our souls calm and bright.
Our souls give in to the lure,
The song and spirit of the summer.
Summer, summer, is returning,
Glory and fire and sunlight burning.