Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SUMMER OF LONG AGO by JOHN TROTWOOD MOORE

First Line: DO YOU KNOW THE LAND, THE FAIREST LAND
Last Line: IN THE SUMMER OF LONG AGO.
Subject(s): LOVE; MEMORY;
DO you know the land, the fairest land
In the mythical realms of old?
Where the earth and the air, and the flowers rare
All sleep 'neath a sun of gold?
Where the elf-king's bugle in winding note
Drowns the dreamy drum in the black bee's throat,
And the fairy queen floats in her peach-bloom boat?
The fire-flies dance where the lily-maids meet
And the flowers are dreams that lie at your feet
In the Summer of Long Ago.

Do you know the land, the sweetest land,
In the rhythmical realms of old?
Where the moon and her beams bring the romancing gleams
Of a love you never have told?
Where the star king's horsemen in platoons of light
Bring your soul-secret love on a palfrey of white,
And her lips meet your lips ere she taketh her flight?
The will-o'-wisp drops like a star from the sun,
And the brooklets are poems that rhyme as they run
In the Summer of Long Ago.

Have you seen the queen of that beautiful land
In the radiant realms of old?
With eyes like the stars of the May-pop bars,
And throat like the lily's fold?
Queen of your home in that yet-to-be day,
To hold you in bondage forever and aye,
Yet to love and to cherish, to bless and obey—
And queen even now in a kingdom above—
The little sweetheart you first learned to love
In the Summer of Long Ago.



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