Poems (Dudley)/A June Memory

by Marion Vienna Churchill Dudley

A JUNE MEMORY.

THAT rare June eve, with crescent moon Low hung upon the West;Shy glint of stars and stir of leaves And chirp from air-swung nest;With balmy odors, dew-distilled, Afloat upon the breeze;Soft hum of insects, lapse of waves And whispering of trees,—

Thrills through my life a tender pain Like some sweet, broken vow;A jewel, golden to the eye, But heavy on the brow.The Summer-mother, whose young heart Throbbed rapture at its birth,With drooping head and trailing wings Passed sadly from the earth;

And later Summers, fair and sweet, With tropic-scented breath,Have nestled in the arms of Earth And sung themselves to death;But all have lacked the glowing warmth, The sensitive perfume,That filled the air and thrilled my soul One eve in that dead June.