In Summer by Lord Alfred Douglas

In Summer

by Lord Alfred Douglas

There were the black pine trees,         

And the sullen hills         

Frowning; there were trills         

Of birds, and the sweet hot sun,         

And little rills         

Of water, everyone 

Singing and prattling; there were bees

Honey-laden, tuneful, a song
        

Far-off, and a timid air 
        

That sighed and kissed my hair, 
        

My hair that the hot sun loves. 
        

The day was very fair, 
        

There was wooing of doves, 


And the shadows were not yet long. 

And I lay on the soft green grass, 
        

And the smell of the earth was sweet,
        

And I dipped my feet 
        

In the little stream;
        

And was cool as a flower is cool in the heat, 
        

And the day lay still in a dream, 


And the hours forgot to pass. 

And you came, my love, so stealthily 
        

That I saw you not 
        

Till I felt that your arms were hot 
        

Round my neck, and my lips were wet
        

With your lips, I had forgot  
        

How sweet you were. And lo! the sun has set, 

And the pale moon came up silently.

Between this poem and this photo, I want to find a stream to dip my feet into and enjoy a sunny summer day!

If you are not familiar with this poet . . . well, you probably actually are familiar with this poet, perhaps just not his poetry. He was in a relationship with Oscar Wilde for a while; it was, in fact, his father who, trying to break up his son's affair with Wilde, put the wheels in motion that landed Wilde in prison for homosexuality. Douglas is also the person who coined the phrase--a euphemism for gay--"the love that dare not speak its name." This is usually attributed to Wilde. He and Wilde did not last long once Wilde left prison. Douglas turned into--or maybe he always was?--a jerk. But let's look at the poem!

What do I love about this poem? I love the form and the rhyme, which seem interesting. Although true rhyme at the ends of lines can sound as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard to our contemporary ears, I don't mind it here. I like the words he uses to rhyme, and the form plays with distance as far as the rhyming words, and that helps the rhymes flow rather than distract.

There is personification but also straight descriptions of nature. I especially love

there were bees

honey-laden

There is a lot of lovely description, and it continues in the third stanza, but here the speaker becomes more blatant. Prior to this, we had only had his hair.

In the fourth stanza, nature takes a backseat--it's just a quick mention of the sun and the moon in the last two lines. This summery nature poem becomes not just a love poem, but a very sexy love poem.

And the poet earns this twist. The entire poem is extraordinarily sensual. All of our senses are working as we read this, so to get to the last stanza, with hot arms, wet lips, and sweetness, we are all in.

"I had forgot how sweet you were." Another little twist. Is the speaker being very, very romantic, as in I just saw you yesterday but each time I see you I am reminded how sweet you are? Or this is two lovers meeting after a time away?

I don't think it matters--it works either way. A very romantic poem for summer reading, as we are heading (quickly, it seems) to the end of July.