Summer Dreams

Let me leave my books and travel far away,
          For summer's here ;
Must I sit and write throughout the livelong day,
          Nor ever hear
     The wild bee humming in the wing,
     The thousand, thousand small birds sing
Their little lilting summer lay ?

Oh that I could wallow deep in summer grass
          There, listless see
Butterflies flit over me and gaily pass,
          Idle, like me ;
     Then feel delicious slumber come,
     Lulled by the deep midsummer hum---
A drowsy, ceaseless melody.

Breezes gently sighing make green tassels sway
          Around my head ;
Specks against the blue, the darting swallow play,
         Now here, now sped,
     Weaving with wings a wondrous maze ;
     The skyline seems, through shimmering haze,
Fantastic writhings far away.

Oh to feel the hot sun bathe with heat and light
          Me, wearily
Laid thus in sweet summer's lap !  Oh what delight !
          Not drearily
     To sit the livelong day and write,
     But, dreaming, smell the hedgerow dight
With honeysuckle, twining bright,
          Ah me !

Written by
Arthur Cyril Harrison


Born in 1893 and educated at Butt's Council School and Queen Mary's School, Arthur Harrison wrote this poem whilst a pupil at Queen Mary's Grammer School before going on to embark upon a career in the Military.