Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Poems by William Allingham (Author: William Allingham)

poem 17

1. See once again our village; with its street
   Dozing in dusty sunshine. All around
   Is silence; save, for slumber not unmeet,
   Some spinning-wheel's continuous whirring sound
   From cottage door, where, stretch'd upon his side,
   the moveless dog is basking, drowsy-eyed.
2. See hollyhocks that rise above a wall
   Sleep in the richness of their crusted blooms;
   Up the hot glass the sluggish blue flies crawl;
   The heavy bee is humming into rooms
   Through open window, like a sturdy rover,
   Bringing with him warm scents of thyme and clover.
1. With herb and flow'r you smell the ripening fruit
   In cottage gardens, on the sultry air;
   But every bird has vanish'd, hiding mute
   In eave and hedgerow; save that here and there
   With twitter swift, the sole unrestful thing,
   Shoots the dark lightning of a swallow's wing.

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