Sweet Summer's Courtship Came and Went...

Not the sun or the summer alone,but every hour yields its tribute of delight.~Ralph Waldo Emerson~ Sweet summer's courtship came.... and went... Sweet summer's courtship came and wentWeaving its laughter and lamentInto a wreath of season-spentTo crown footfalls that fadeLike flower gardens, fair and briefLike bowers bent with fruit and leafLike hours full of joy and griefLike shadowland's soft-splayed ...where childhood's barefoot, carefree strandSoon falls prey to the firm command Of waves that sweep the sea and sand In morn to eventideWhilst gath'ring in the gleaming wakeOf eager passion's give and takeFramed rations, tamed into an ache  Of snow-capped countryside The aftermath of youthfulnessIs resolute in its progress Where winter is the effervesce Of summer's sanguine splashOf petal-mettle, fondly kissedThen felled by time's determined fistBeneath a scarf of sequined mistAnd echo's knee-deep sash Janet Martin Where winter is the effervesce Of summer's sanguine splash... ...and because it's tradition with the first real snowfall every year,this song! 🙏