Summer Dreams

Drowsy old summer, with nothing to do,

I'd like to be drowsin’ an’ dreamin’ with you;

I'd like to stretch out in the shade of a tree,

An’ fancy the white clouds were ships out at sea,

Or castles with turrets and treasures and things,

And peopled with princesses, fairies and kings,

An’ just drench my soul with the glorious joy

Which was mine to possess as a barefooted boy.

Drowsy old summer, your skies are as blue

As the skies which a dreamy-eyed youngster once knew,

An’ I fancy to-day all the pictures are there —

The ships an’ the pirates an’ princesses fair,

The red scenes of battle, the gay, cheering throngs

Which greeted the hero who righted all wrongs;

But somehow or other, these old eyes of mine

Ca n't see what they did as a youngster of nine.

Drowsy old summer, I'd like to forget

Some things which I've learned an’ some hurts I have met;

I'd like the old visions of splendor an’ joy

Which were mine to possess as a barefooted boy

When I dreamed of the glorious deeds I would do

As soon as I'd galloped my brief boyhood through;

I'd like to come back an’ look into your skies

With that wondrous belief an’ those far-seeing eyes.

Drowsy old summer, my dream days have gone;

Only things which are real I must now look upon;

No longer I see in the skies overhead

The pictures that were, for the last one has fled.

I have learned that not all of our dreams can come true;

That the toilers are many and heroes are few;

But I'd like once again to look up there an’ see

The man that I fancied some day I might be.