IN SUMMER, WHEN THE DAY HAS FLED:

A June Night - Poem by Emma Lazarus

Ten o'clock: the broken moon

Hangs not yet a half hour high,

Yellow as a shield of brass,

In the dewy air of June,

Poised between the vaulted sky

And the ocean's liquid glass.

Earth lies in the shadow still;

Low black bushes, trees, and lawn

Night's ambrosial dews absorb;

Through the foliage creeps a thrill,

Whispering of yon spectral dawn

And the hidden climbing orb.

Higher, higher, gathering light,

Veiling with a golden gauze

All the trembling atmosphere,

See, the ray-less disk grows white!

Hark, the glittering billows pause!

Faint, far sounds possess the ear.

Elves on such a night as this

Spin their rings upon the grass;

On the beach the water-fay

Greets her lover with a kiss;

Through the air swift spirits pass,

 Laugh, caress, and float away.

Shut thy lids and thou shalt see

Angel faces wreathed with light,

Mystic forms long vanished hence.

Ah, too fine, too rare, they be

For the grosser mortal sight,

And they foil our waking sense.

Yet we feel them floating near,

Know that we are not alone,

Though our open eyes behold

Nothing save the moon's bright sphere,

In the vacant heavens shown,

And the ocean's path of gold. 

June Nights -

Poem by Victor Marie Hugo

 

In summer, when day has fled,

The plain covered with flowers, pours out

From far away, an intoxicating scent;

Eyes shut, ears half open to noises,

We only half sleep in a transparent slumber.

The stars are purer, the shade seems pleasanter;
A hazy half-day colours the eternal dome;
And the sweet pale dawn awaiting her hour
Seems to wander all night at the bottom of the sky.