MY SUMMER NIGHT. 



The dear voice of the summer night 



Sings in my Hstening ear 

 A melody of joyous flight, 



In sweetest cadence here. 



I love the cricket's monotone; 



It almost seems tO' me 

 That star-notes, through the ether blov^n, 



Have lodged in grass and tree. 



A beetle, swinging down the field, 



Booms on the lighted pane ; 

 And, as it strikes, a thought revealed 



Taps at my quivering brain. 



The *'peas and pork" bird in the air — 



The solemn whip-poor-will — 

 Both thoughts of quaintest mystery bear 



From off yon shadowed hill. 



A silk-worm, moth, with purple ''eyes" 



Upon its nether wings, 

 Around the lighted window flies, 



Or to the casement clings. 



So, all the eve, the gathering gloom 



Speaks with its voices low; 

 Hearts unto hearts, in bits of bloom, 



On summer evenings flow. 



— Willis Edwin Hurd. 



II? 



