16 JUNE 1877, Page 15

POETRY.

JUNE.

AN English wife, whose passage o'er the line That severs maid from matron leaves its trace In wiser innocence and chastened grace ; With queenly eyes, love-loyal, frank, benign, That warm, unheating, and unglittering shine ; A touch of cool bright colour on her face,

A shape that curves part hide and part define,—

Figures our June, the summer's resting-place. Promise is perfected, without excess ; The leaf fulfilled, the flower not overblown, The beams of noontide in this kindly zone Bless, and burn not ; half-tints of pink and pearl Shimmer from wildrose-cluster, woodbine-whorl,— The wavy woods are dim for leafiness.

H. G. HEwLErr.