All the long August afternoon,

The little drowsy stream

Whispers a melancholy tune,

As if it dreamed of June

And whispered in its dream.

The thistles show beyond the brook

Dust on their down and bloom,

And out of many a weed-grown nook

The aster-flowÉrs look

With eyes of tender gloom.

The silent orchard aisles are sweet

With smell of ripening fruit.

Through the sere grass, in shy retreat,

Flutter, at coming feet,

The robins strange and mute.

There is no wind to stir the leaves,

The harsh leaves overhead;

Only the querulous cricket grieves,

And shrilling locust weaves

A song of Summer dead.