Poems (Spofford)/A Four-o'Clock
A FOUR-O'CLOCK.
Ah, happy day, refuse to go!Hang in the heavens forever so!Forever in mid-afternoon,Ah, happy day of happy June!Pour out thy sunshine on the hill,The piny wood with perfume fill,And breathe across the singing seaLand-scented breezes, that shall beSweet as the gardens that they pass,Where children tumble in the grass!
Ah, happy day, refuse to go!Hang in the heavens forever so!And long not for thy blushing restIn the soft bosom of the west,But bid gray evening get her backWith all the stars upon her track!Forget the dark, forget the dew,The mystery of the midnight blue, And only spread thy wide warm wingsWhile summer her enchantment flings!
Ah, happy day, refuse to go!Hang in the heavens forever so!Forever let thy tender mistLie like dissolving amethystDeep in the distant dales, and shedThy mellow glory overhead!Yet wilt thou wander,—call the thrush,And have the wilds and waters hushTo hear his passion-broken tune,Ah, happy day of happy June!