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  • Writer's pictureNora Curry

Poems for the Summer Solstice



Whether you relish days in the sunshine and the summer nights ahead or call it the dog days of summer with a sense of heat-induced dread, the solstice brings us a new season today. And what better time than the changing of the seasons to delight in our perhaps most sensory literary form? Celebrate the Summer Solstice today with the poems by two nature-loving poets shared below, a reverie by Emily Dickinson and "Remembering Summer" by W.S. Merwin.


122


A something in a summer's Day As slow her flambeaux burn away Which solemnizes me. A something in a summer's noon— A depth—an Azure—a perfume— Transcending ecstasy. And still within a summer's night A something so transporting bright I clap my hands to see— Then veil my too inspecting face Lest such a subtle—shimmering grace Flutter too far for me— The wizard fingers never rest— The purple brook within the breast Still chafes its narrow bed— Still rears the East her amber Flag— Guides still the sun along the Crag His Caravan of Red— So looking on—the night—the morn Conclude the wonder gay— And I meet, coming thro' the dews Another summer's Day!



 


Remembering Summer


Being too warm the old lady said to me is better than being too cold I think now in between is the best because you never give it a thought but it goes by too fast I remember the winter how cold it got I could never get warm wherever I was but I don’t remember the summer heat like that only the long days the breathing of the trees the evenings with the hens still talking in the lane and the light getting longer in the valley the sound of a bell from down there somewhere I can sit here now still listening to it


- W.S. Merwin


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