Summer and Winter

In summer, when the sun is high

And thoughts are turned to holiday.

When daylight lingers in the sky,

And darkness far has crept away.

A lethargy not felt before

Flows in like tides upon the shore.

 

When bright hues all the landscape fill,

We suffer a hypnotic spell;

In noonday heat the birds are still,

There is no message now to tell.

Siesta falls upon the land,

Its face expressionless and bland

 

But winter in its various moods

Applies the spur, makes pulses race;

The chill of snowy altitudes

Gives labour an inviting face;

And though the trees and birds are still,

The mind is working like a mill.

 

 

Weekly Times 11.8.61