Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARLO AND I by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS

First Line: OVER THE FIELDS IN THE SUNNY WEATHER
Last Line: ON THROUGH THE WOODLAND, CARLO AND I.
Over the fields in the sunny weather,
Wading deep in the clover high,
Bounding and swinging along together,
Out into Summerland, Carlo and I.

Generous people live up above us;
They are pouring gold from the gold-blue sky!
Softly, softly, good folk, if you love us!
We'll be buried in gold dust, Carlo and I!

Slow move the butterflies, laden with plunder;
They are storing gold in that brooklet nigh.
How it shines as the fishes carry it under!
But we are no misers, Carlo and I.

An army of grasshoppers guarding the treasure
Fly at our throats with a shrill war cry.
We'll invade their dominion at our good pleasure,
For we are the biggest, Carlo and I.

The great red cloverheads steeped in the summer
Sleepily nod as we two pass by.
A man seems a quite insignificant comer,
But still we're endured here, Carlo and I.

Over the field to this fence-line tangled, --
Half-hidden bunches of berries I spy, --
Out of the glittering meadow bespangled,
Into the woodland, Carlo and I.

A still, cool sea of leaves all around us,
Above, the green waves in the sunshine lie,
And sunbeams filtering through have found us,
Down on the sea-floor, Carlo and I.

Whir! -- 'tis a squirrel, that stays no meeting.
Fie on you, Carlo, you wild dog, fie!
They'll turn us out for uncivil greeting;
We're monsters, anyway, you and I!

How is it, Carlo? Let's know, you sinner!
How much of the summer can reach your eye?
Is it all a warmth and a golden shimmer,
Or are you nearer it all than I?

Who lives the most in this summer weather,
Two feet little or six feet high?
Well, we'll take it share and share together,
On through the woodland, Carlo and I.



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