AN OLD FRIEND

Hey, Old Midsummer! are you here again,

With all your harvest-store of olden joys,—

Vast overhanging meadow-lands of rain,

And drowsy dawns, and noons when golden grain

Nods in the sun, and lazy truant boys

Drift ever listlessly adown the day,

Too full of joy to rest, and dreams to play.

The same old Summer, with the same old smile

Beaming upon us in the same old way

We knew in childhood! Though a weary while

Since that far time, yet memories reconcile

The heart with odorous breaths of clover hay;

And again I hear the doves, and the sun streams through

The old barn door just as it used to do.

And so it seems like welcoming a friend —

An old, OLD friend, upon his coming home

From some far country — coming home to spend

Long, loitering days with me: And I extend

My hand in rapturous glee:— And so you've come!—

Ho, I'm so glad! Come in and take a chair:

Well, this is just like OLD times, I declare!