Part 33 (2/2)

Here are my buds of lily and rose, And here's my namesake blossom may; And from a watery spot See here forget-me-not, With all that blows To-day.

(_JUNE appears at the further end of the garden, coming slowly towards MAY, who, seeing her, exclaims:_)

Surely you're come too early, sister June.

JUNE

Indeed I feel as if I came too soon To round your young May moon And set the world a-gasping at my noon.

Yet come I must. So here are strawberries Sun-flushed and sweet, as many as you please; And here are full-blown roses by the score, More roses, and yet more.

(_MAY, eating strawberries, withdraws among the flower beds. JUNE seats herself in the shadow of a laburnum._)

Or if I'm lulled by note of bird and bee, Or lulled by noontide's silence deep, I need but nestle down beneath my tree And drop asleep.

(_JUNE falls asleep; and is not awakened by the voice of JULY, who, behind the scenes, is heard, half singing, half calling._)

JULY

(_Behind the scenes_)

Blue flags, yellow flags, flags all freckled, Which will you take? yellow, blue, speckled!

Take which you will, speckled, blue, yellow, Each in its way has not a fellow.

(_Enter JULY, a basket of many-coloured irises slung upon his shoulders, a bunch of ripe gra.s.s in one hand, and a plate piled full of peaches balanced upon the other. He steals up to JUNE, and tickles her with the gra.s.s. She wakes._)

JUNE

What, here already?

JULY

Nay, my tryst is kept; The longest day slipped by you while you slept.

I've brought you one curved pyramid of bloom,

(_Hands her the plate_)

Not flowers but peaches, gathered where the bees, As downy, bask and boom In suns.h.i.+ne and in gloom of trees.

But get you in, a storm is at my heels; The whirlwind whistles and wheels, Lightning flashes and thunder peals, Flying and following hard upon my heels.

(_JUNE takes shelter in a thickly-woven arbour_)

The roar of a storm sweeps up From the east to the lurid west, The darkening sky, like a cup, Is filled with rain to the brink; The sky is purple and fire, Blackness and noise and unrest; The earth, parched with desire Opens her mouth to drink.

Have done with thunder and fire, O sky with the rainbow crest; O earth, have done with desire, Drink, and drink deep, and rest.

(_Enter AUGUST, carrying a sheaf made up of different kinds of grain._)

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