Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BALLADE OF MIDSUMMER DAYS AND NIGHTS, by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BALLADE OF MIDSUMMER DAYS AND NIGHTS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: With a ripple of leaves and a tinkle of streams
Last Line: Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!
Alternate Author Name(s): Henley, W. E.
Variant Title(s): Midsummer Days And Nights
Subject(s): Nature; Summer


WITH a ripple of leaves and a tinkle of streams
The full world rolls in a rhythm of praise,
And the winds are one with the clouds and beams --
Midsummer days! midsummer days!
The dusk grows vast; in a purple haze,
While the west from a rapture of sunset rights,
Faint stars their exquisite lamps upraise --
Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!
The wood's green heart is a nest of dreams,
The lush grass thickens and springs and sways,
The rathe wheat rustles, the landscape gleams --
Midsummer days! midsummer days!
In the stilly fields, in the stilly ways,
All secret shadows and mystic lights,
Late lovers murmurous linger and gaze --
Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!
There's a music of bells from the trampling teams,
Wild skylarks hover, the gorses blaze,
The rich ripe rose as with incense steams --
Midsummer days! midsummer days!
A soul from the honeysuckle strays,
And the nightingale as from prophet heights
Sings to the earth of her million Mays --
Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!
ENVOY.
And it's oh! for my dear, and the charm that stays --
Midsummer days! midsummer days!
It's oh! for my love, and the dark that plights --
Midsummer nights! O midsummer nights!




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