Hey, Old Midsummer! are you here again, <br />With all your harvest-store of olden joys,-- <br />Vast overhanging meadow-lands of rain, <br />And drowsy dawns, and noons when golden grain <br />Nods in the sun, and lazy truant boys <br />Drift ever listlessly adown the day, <br />Too full of joy to rest, and dreams to play. <br /> <br />The same old Summer, with the same old smile <br />Beaming upon us in the same old way <br />We knew in childhood! Though a weary while <br />Since that far time, yet memories reconcile <br />The heart with odorous breaths of clover hay; <br />And again I hear the doves, and the sun streams through <br />The old barn door just as it used to do. <br /> <br />And so it seems like welcoming a friend-- <br />An old, OLD friend, upon his coming home <br />From some far country--coming home to spend <br />Long, loitering days with me: And I extend <br />My hand in rapturous glee:--And so you've come!-- <br />Ho, I'm so glad! Come in and take a chair: <br />Well, this is just like OLD times, I declare!<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-old-friend-2/
