A Dream Of Summer

Bland as the morning breath of June     The southwest breezes play;     And, through its haze, the winter noon     Seems warm as summers day.     The snow-plumed Angel of the North     Has dropped his icy spear;     Again the mossy earth looks forth,     Again the streams gush clear.     The fox his hillside cell forsakes,     The muskrat leaves his nook,     The bluebird in the meadow brakes     Is singing with the brook.     Bear up, O Mother Nature! cry     Bird, breeze, and streamlet free;     Our winter voices prophesy     Of summer days to thee!     So, in those winters of the soul,     By bitter blasts and drear     Oerswept from Memorys frozen pole,     Will sunny days appear.     Reviving Hope and Faith, they show     The soul its living powers,     And how beneath the winters snow     Lie germs of summer flowers!     The Night is mother of the Day,     The Winter of the Spring,     And ever upon old Decay     The greenest mosses cling.     Behind the cloud the starlight lurks,     Through showers the sunbeams fall;     For God, who loveth all His works,     Has left His hope with all!