The Birds and Poets 77 



The bees and the clover and the surge of summer 

 are often referred to in the poems celebrating the 

 month, for example, Mrs. Whitney's lines: 



"Now it is June, and the secret is told; 

 Flashed from the buttercup's glory of gold, 

 Hung in the bumblebee's gladness, and sung 

 New from each bough where a bird's nest is swung; 

 Breathed from the clover beds when the winds pass; 

 Chirped in small psalms through the isles of the 

 grass." 



After May, Emerson says : 



"Then flows amain 



The surge of summer's beauty; dell and crag, 

 Hollow and lake, hill-side and pine arcade, 

 Are touched with genius." 



And William Vaughn Moody in his "Glouces- 

 ter Moors" has left us this exquisite description of 

 the beauties of which June is so prodigal: 



"Jill-o'er-the-ground is purple blue, 

 Blue is the quaker-maid, 

 The wild geranium holds its dew 

 Long in the boulder's shade. 

 Wax-red hangs the cup 

 From the huckleberry boughs, 

 In barberry bells the grey moths sup 

 Or where the choke-cherry lifts high up 

 Sweet bowls for their carouse. 



Over the shelf of the sandy cove 

 Beach-peas blossom late. 



