Summer Sorrow

What shall meadow hold to please me,
Spreading wide its scented waving,
How shall quiet mosses ease me, 
Or the night-wind cool my craving?
Hill and hedgerow, cloud-sweet sky, 
Echo our good-by.

Bud unplucked and leaf a-quiver,
Bird that lifts a tuneless trilling,
Restless dream of brook and river,
All June’s cup a wasted spilling—
You and I so thirsty-hearted!—
Summer knows us parted.

Credit

This poem is in the public domain. Published in Poem-a-Day on August 21, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“Summer Sorrow” appeared in A Canopic Jar (E. P. Dutton & Company, 1921).