Summer afternoon
Summer afternoon;to me those have always been the two most beautiful words.
Summer is the glorious time of the year when most of us can put on our shorts and short-sleeved shirts and actually feel the air and sunlight on our skin; when we don't have to turn up the heat in the morning when we get up; but also when we lay hot and sweaty in bed, unable to sleep at times (those of us who don't have air conditioning, anyway); when we get the sunburn and the heatstroke and all those wonderful things.
All green and fair the summer lies, just budded from the bud of spring, with tender blue of wistful skies, and winds that softly sing. How beautiful the summer night is, which is not night, but a sunless, yet unclouded day,descending upon earth with dews and shadows and refreshing coolness! How beautiful the long mild twilight,which, like a silver clasp, unites today with yesterday!
Summer is a sailor in a rowboat and ice-cream on your dress when you're four years old.
Summer is a man with his coat off, wet sand between your toes, the smell of a garden an hour before moonrise. Summer is silk itself, a giant geranium and music from a flute far away!
No matter how we see it, summer has a magic that we can't deny – all four seasons do.
