Her Laughter Must Be June

Her laughter must be June

Where long she stood, gray-faced and grim

A sepulcher on every limb

Her down-cast eye lifts, filled with vim

And myriad of nature-tune  

I say, earth’s laughter must be June

She twirls, her summer-sheen

Becoming, where too long her head

Was bowed and veiled in somber thread

Her curves, stark, unappealing, dead

But now, where mourning once had been

Her laughter spills in gold and green

And we, wearied by many moons

Are gladly wooed by the romance

Of roses where our bare feet dance

In garden ball-rooms; hope’s fragrance

Like heaven-rendered love-song croons  

I say, earth’s laughter must be June

 She kisses with sun-sparkle swoon

The window where we waited, wild

With eagerness of dreaming child

While winter bullied and reviled

Each hollow, hillock, dell and dune

Before earth’s lush laughter of June

© Janet Martin