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| IN summer, when the days were long, | |
| We walked together in the wood: | |
| Our heart was light, our steps were strong; | |
| Sweet flutterings were there in our blood, | |
| In summer, when the days were long. | 5 |
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| We strayed from morn till evening came; | |
| We gathered flowers, and wove us crowns; | |
| We walked mid poppies red as flame, | |
| Or sat upon the yellow downs; | |
| And always wished our life the same. | 10 |
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| In summer, when the days were long, | |
| We leaped the hedge-row, crossed the brook; | |
| And still her voice flowed forth in song, | |
| Or else she read some graceful book, | |
| In summer, when the days were long. | 15 |
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| And then we sat beneath the trees, | |
| With shadows lessening in the noon; | |
| And in the sunlight and the breeze, | |
| We feasted many a gorgeous June, | |
| While larks were singing o’er the leas. | 20 |
| |
| In summer, when the days were long, | |
| On dainty chicken, snow-white bread, | |
| We feasted, with no grace but song; | |
| We plucked wild strawberries, ripe and red, | |
| In summer, when the days were long. | 25 |
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| We loved, and yet we knew it not,— | |
| For loving seemed like breathing then; | |
| We found a heaven in every spot; | |
| Saw angels, too, in all good men; | |
| And dreamed of God in grove and grot. | 30 |
| |
| In summer, when the days are long, | |
| Alone I wander, muse alone. | |
| I see her not; but that old song | |
| Under the fragrant wind is blown, | |
| In summer, when the days are long. | 35 |
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| Alone I wander in the wood: | |
| But one fair spirit hears my sighs; | |
| And half I see, so glad and good, | |
| The honest daylight of her eyes, | |
| That charmed me under earlier skies. | 40 |
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| In summer, when the days are long, | |
| I love her as we loved of old. | |
| My heart is light, my step is strong; | |
| For love brings back those hours of gold, | |
| In summer, when the days are long. | 45 |
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