Summer afternoons

A languid atmosphere and a lazy breeze and a dreamy afternoon

some green mangoes plucked from our mango tree

books to pour over

Thinking of summer afternoons and some poems ....

A dreamy day; and tranquilly I lie

At anchor from all storms of mental strain;

With absent vision, gazing at the sky,

"Like one that hears it rain."

Off through the haze that dances in the shine

The warm sun showers in the open glade,

The forest lies, a silhouette design

Dimmed through and through with shade.

The twitter, sometimes, of a wayward bird

That checks the song abruptly at the sound,

And mildly, chiding echoes that have stirred,

Sink into silence, all the more profound.

And drowsily I hear the plaintive strain

Of some poor dove . . . Why, I can scarcely keep

My heavy eyelids--there it is again--

"Coo-coo!"--I mustn't--"Coo-coo!"--fall asleep!

James Whitcomb Riley

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