Today I don't feel down so much as dazed,
As though this summer sun and thick hot heat
Has emptied early all the livelong day,
Has somehow drained the better part away
Of what I am, may be, might wish to be
To summer indolence and summer haze.

Layers of leaves filter the sun's hot rays
Into quick trembles and green sway, a breeze
Yes, but hot, smothered, even the shade
Less shadow than muted heat, shelter betrayed,
This tangle of shrubs, hung vines, bent trees,
A chaos, clutter of light and leaf, dismay.

Then finally twilight, sunset, sun's last blaze,
A first star so bright it seems unreal,
The curving winks of fireflies in the gray
That slowly fills the air, a moving spray
Of speckled light, the rising night, peals
Of stars, stars, a sky ringing with praise.