<h2><SPAN name="page101"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>MIDSUMMER</h2>
<p class="poetry">After the May time, and after the June time,<br/>
Rare with blossoms and perfumes sweet,<br/>
Cometh the round world’s royal noon time,<br/>
The red midsummer of blazing heat.<br/>
When the sun, like an eye that never closes,<br/>
Bends on the earth its fervid gaze,<br/>
And the winds are still, and the crimson roses<br/>
Droop and wither and die in its rays.</p>
<p class="poetry">Unto my heart has come that season,<br/>
O my lady, my worshipped one,<br/>
When over the stars of Pride and Reason<br/>
Sails Love’s cloudless, noonday sun.<br/>
Like a great red ball in my bosom burning<br/>
With fires that nothing can quench or tame.<br/>
It glows till my heart itself seems turning<br/>
Into a liquid lake of flame.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page102"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
102</span>The hopes half shy, and the sighs all tender,<br/>
The dreams and fears of an earlier day,<br/>
Under the noontide’s royal splendour,<br/>
Droop like roses and wither away.<br/>
From the hills of doubt no winds are blowing,<br/>
From the isle of pain no breeze is sent.<br/>
Only the sun in a white heat glowing<br/>
Over an ocean of great content.</p>
<p class="poetry">Sink, O my soul, in this golden glory,<br/>
Die, O my heart, in thy rapture-swoon,<br/>
For the Autumn must come with its mournful story,<br/>
And Love’s midsummer will fade too soon.</p>
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