A Night In June

I.     White as a lily moulded of Earth's milk     That eve the moon bloomed in a hyacinth sky;     Soft in the gleaming glens the wind went by,     Faint as a phantom clothed in unseen silk:     Bright as a naiad's leap, from shine to shade     The runnel twinkled through the shaken brier;     Above the hills one long cloud, pulsed with fire,     Flashed like a great enchantment-welded blade.     And when the western sky seemed some weird land,     And night a witching spell at whose command     One sloping star fell green from heav'n; and deep     The warm rose opened for the moth to sleep;     Then she, consenting, laid her hands in his,     And lifted up her lips for their first kiss. II.     There where they part, the porch's steps are strewn     With wind-blown petals of the purple vine;     Athwart the porch the shadow of a pine     Cleaves the white moonlight; and like some calm rune     Heaven says to Earth, shines the majestic moon;     And now a meteor draws a lilac line     Across the welkin, as if God would sign     The perfect poem of this night of June.     The wood-wind stirs the flowering chestnut-tree,     Whose curving blossoms strew the glimmering grass     Like crescents that wind-wrinkled waters glass;     And, like a moonstone in a frill of flame,     The dewdrop trembles on the peony,     As in a lover's heart his sweetheart's name.