June - A poem by James Wilkinson

June.

O June, beautiful June,
   The diamond bright of the year;
Why fade you thus, so soon
   Without trace of sorrow here?

Thy life, O June, is a dream,
   Yet the source of great inspiration;
Thine is the time to redeem
   The mistakes of a year's dissipation.

Far down in the heart of thy treasures,
   A pearl there is richly pure;
Enrapturing the sight of its pleasures^__
   Lasting its joys, and sure.

Here know the bliss of a day^__
   Bliss which from June is given;
Drink glad notes of aerial lay,
   While they echo from earth to heaven.

Yet June, my long-loved friend,
   Shall this suffice thy eulogy;
Can it be, we only comprehend,
   A picture so vague to thee.

I would with all my heart
   A more worthy tribute bring;
But charm is thine and when we start
   Dame Fancy leaves no offering.

For where are laurels, or wreath,
   Or the jewels of glittering bright;
That would add to thy perfumed breath,
   Or shed brilliancy above thy light.

O June, I clutch at thy daylight's last beam,
   As mementoes for thy diadem;
Promise me, please, another gleam,
   For thou art the rarest gem.

^__James Wilkinson.

Poets and Poetry of Kansas
Edited by Thomas W. Herringshaw
(Chicago: American Publishers' Association. 1894)
Page 312