Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AFTER A JUNE NIGHT'S STORM, by GEORGE MURRAY (1830-1910)



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AFTER A JUNE NIGHT'S STORM, by                    
First Line: O what a day of lovely light
Last Line: By a draught of her gladdening wine.
Subject(s): Nature; Storms; Wind


O what a day of lovely light
Dawns forth from out the stormy night!
Kind Nature, with her water bowl,
Hath washed from the earth each stain and soil,
And it shines in splendor bright.

From the wood, the myriad-twinkling gleam
Shows where the sun's first radiant beam
Is caught by each polished, refreshened leaf,
As, kissed by the breeze a moment brief,
It twists on its slender stem.

The cataract from the cliff doth pour
Its foaming waters with a roar
That seems imprisoned fast to hold
The thunder's echoes that pealed and rolled
At midnight the heavens o'er;

Whilst all the lightnings that lit the night,
Seem to have sunk in those waters bright;
Where, each to its seven-fold elements torn,
With a hundred hues they now adorn
The flood in its tumbling flight.

The meadow brook tranquil and bright doth flow
Where daisies their smiles to buttercups throw,
And each congratulations give,
O'er the joy on such a day to live,
On such a day to grow;

Where kine, that cowered in fear 'neath the oak
When the thunder's crash at midnight broke,
Knee-deep in clover contented low,
Sweet'ning the breeze with each breath they blow,
And for the milk-maid look;

Where the lark soars singing from its bed;
Where floating butterflies drift o'erhead,
And birds from all the bushes sing;
Where overjoyed seems each live thing,
In the glories round it spread.

Fair June! the days are only thine
When Nature thus breathes out her soul divine,
When e'en the saddest mood of man
May be changed to joy unmixed with pain,
By a draught of her gladdening wine.





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