Fountains that frisk and sprinkle <br />The moss they overspill; <br />Pools that the breezes crinkle; <br />The wheel beside the mill, <br />With its wet, weedy frill; <br />Wind-shadows in the wheat; <br />A water-cart in the street; <br />The fringe of foam that girds <br />An islet's ferneries; <br />A green sky's minor thirds - <br />To live, I think of these! <br /> <br />Of ice and glass the tinkle, <br />Pellucid, silver-shrill; <br />Peaches without a wrinkle; <br />Cherries and snow at will, <br />From china bowls that fill <br />The senses with a sweet <br />Incuriousness of heat; <br />A melon's dripping sherds; <br />Cream-clotted strawberries; <br />Dusk dairies set with curds - <br />To live, I think of these! <br /> <br />Vale-lily and periwinkle; <br />Wet stone-crop on the sill; <br />The look of leaves a-twinkle <br />With windlets clear and still; <br />The feel of a forest rill <br />That wimples fresh and fleet <br />About one's naked feet; <br />The muzzles of drinking herds; <br />Lush flags and bulrushes; <br />The chirp of rain-bound birds - <br />To live, I think of these! <br /> <br />Envoy <br /> <br />Dark aisles, new packs of cards, <br />Mermaidens' tails, cool swards, <br />Dawn dews and starlit seas, <br />White marbles, whiter words - <br />To live, I think of these!<br /><br />William Ernest Henley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/ballade-made-in-the-hot-weather/
