"Love on a Summer's Night"

"Love on a Summer’s Night"

verse by

Wally Lee Parker

illustration by

Robert H. Brandt

(first published in 1984 — all rights retained by author)

            This is a little something from one of my romantic phases – which, just like the face of the moon, tend to wax and wane over time.

The moon so bright on a summer’s night

glows as a shadowed pearl

so bright she swims that around her rim

a pale blue halo curls

and the Milky Way as a creamy haze

falls soft, then dimly billows

to the edge of sky where it gentle lies

draped on the limbs of willows.

It’s a night so warm that a thunder storm

will surely drench the dawning

for the halo’s braid and the stars’ cascade

foretell a tempest spawning

and the rising heat, all dewy sweet

from a day of sunlight downed

draws fragrant swells of earthy smells

from the summer’s fertile ground.

When the clover’s scent, summer’s wonderment

blends deep into the night

and the sultry dark ‘tween the willows’ bark

sets the mood just right

in the moon lit jade of this woodland glade

far from the city’s lights

we two conspire with our hearts’ desire

for love on a summer’s night.

The starry night and the moon so bright

dripping down through leafy willows

finds our hiding place and your smiling face

my heart your evening pillow

for the pounding blood and the rushing flood

now your warm and sated sleeping

was the pure delight of this summer night

and a secret meant for keeping.

‘neath boughs bend low ‘round this dark meadow

on a patchwork quilt we lie

two lovers lost under dapples tossed

from the moon high in the sky

and the magic seen as you sleep serene

in a bath of bright moonlight

sets the night aglow with a dream I know

— your love on a summer’s night.



Links to other poems by Wally Lee Parker

Fossil Fires

Night Sounds

An Ode to Red Beer

Odious Potions