Of Summer's Day

Duty's marching orders can be quite relentless,

but hopefully not so much so that we forget

to 'sail away on summer's Day', now and then

Summer serves up its splash of sheaves

On silver platters made of leaves

A bloom-extravagant buffet

On counterpanes of Summer's Day...

Let’s put on smiles and sail away

Through glorious isles of Summer’s day

On seas of green and gold beneath

The gleam of heaven’s cobalt heath

Let's kick off shoes and wade through hues

Of wild-flower and welkin blues

Or we might miss the best there is

Of this old world, with much amiss  

Let’s pause without apology

Because of nature's Majesty

So many wonders to behold

Before the wings of summer fold

Before the songs of summer fade

Like youth, marching in a parade

That steals the vigor from their form

Like winter takes the world by storm

And we cannot return to climb

The hills of Once upon a Time

So, while the world is summer-young

And dew-drop-pearled and grandly flung

Like Creation’s magnum opus

From God to every one of us

Let’s linger where the landscape gleams

With lavender and lily-streams

With golden tides of rippling grain

With blush and rush of sun and rain

Where goldfinch flits and swallow skims

And lyrics lilt from leaf-lush limbs

And gardens burgeon with delight

That kindles healthy appetite

And makes our labor worth its toil

As seed begins to spill its spoil

To we, humbled to do our part

To glean earth’s gifts with thankful heart

Awed by His grace, aware of He

Who still creates with ‘let there be’

And sweetens creature-care with hymns

Where beauty’s ballad broods and brims

From founts of hollyhock and rose

Creation’s color-cadence flows

Through glorious isles of Summer’s Day

So, let’s don smiles and sail away

On seas of green and gold before

This sweep of summer is no more

Summer serves up its splash of sheaves

On silver platters made of leaves

A bloom-extravagant buffet

On counterpanes of Summer's Day

© Janet Martin

Rev.15:3

 “Great and marvelous are Your works, 

Lord God Almighty!

 Just and true are Your ways, 

O King of the saints!