Thoughts on a Summer Evening

The summer sunshine, hot upon my face
Has faded now and everything is chill,
The once blue sky is all beset by clouds
The summer sun has set behind the hill,
And as the purple sunset spreads its cloak
The birds fall silent and the world is still.

Now in the velvet evening comes the thought
That life is fading too and steals away
The fire of youth, that like the summer sun
Warmed all the earth and shone throughout the day,
Is turned to embers now and all its heat
Serves just to bake the ground and light the clay.

As night’s long shadows creep across the sky
The memory of noontide sun remains,
Of summer insects buzzing through the trees
That cast a welcome shade in country lanes,
And through my life I just remember sun
Forgetting dreary summers and their rains.