An Old Friend
by James Whitcomb RileyHey, Old Midsummer! are you here again,
With all your harvest-store of olden joys, -
Vast overhanging meadow-lands of rain,
And drowsy dawns, and noons when golden grain
Nods in the sun, and lazy truant boys
Drift ever listlessly adown the day,
Too full of joy to rest, and dreams to play.
The same old Summer, with the same old smile
Beaming upon us in the same old way
We knew in childhood! Though a weary while
Since that far time, yet memories reconcile
The heart with odorous breaths of clover hay;
And again I hear the doves, and the sun streams through
The old barn door just as it used to do.
And so it seems like welcoming a friend -
An old, OLD friend, upon his coming home
From some far country - coming home to spend
Long, loitering days with me: And I extend
My hand in rapturous glee: - And so you've come! -
Ho, I'm so glad! Come in and take a chair:
Well, this is just like OLD times, I declare!