Summer Rain

Summer rain,

Just duller than golden.

When simple pleasure reigned

Without complicated strife;

When freedom was not of civilisation

But of elatious joy;

When whiles flowed by like easy streams:

There was summer rain.

A fragile curtain,

A shimmering veil,

Crisp and cool

With vernal vitality:

This is summer rain.

Scarcely perceive

A tickle of nostalgia,

Before the reins of knowledge,

Of love and pain and all that is,

Tighten and restrain

The estival joys

Of summer rain.