A Summer Night

O for a summer night beside,
When stars in the vast temples bide!
Where daisies chase the winds of later,
And ye soft crickets sing in honor!

The trees wear crowns of leafy dreams,
With laughter dancing in the streams,
While fireflies flit beneath the sky,
And we inhale the breath of sigh.

Here laughter’s splendor springs to birth,
With moonlight playing on the earth;
Come rest your heart — oh, trial might!
For truly, life is fair at night!

• Thomas Hood