It Seems but Yesterday

IT seems but yesterday that May
Tripped lightly past, nor paused to stay
A moment longer than ’t would take
To set her signet near and far,
In field and lane, — the daisies’ star;
To set the grasses all ashake;
To kiss the world into a blush
Of brier-roses, pink and flush,
For summer’s sake.

It seems but yesterday that June
Came piping sweet a medley-tune,
Whereto the robin and the thrush
Lent each his thrilling throat, the while
The locust there beside the stile,
Deep-hid in tangled weed and brush,
Spun out the season’s skein of heat,
With now a “whirr ” of shuttle fleet,
And now a hush.

It seems but yesterday, and yet
To-day I found my garden set
In silver, and the roisterer wind
Made bold to pluck me by the gown,
What time I wandered up and down
The path, to see if left behind
Was one last rose that I might press
Against my withered cheek, and less
Feel time unkind.