A Mid-Summer Noon
In the
Charles Harpur
Not a sound disturbs the air，
There is quiet everywhere；
Over plains and over woods
What a mighty stillness broods！
All the birds and insects keep
Where the coolest shadows sleep;
Even the busy ants are found
Resting in their pebbled mound;
Even the locust clingeth now
Silent to the barky bough:
And over hills and over plains
Quiet, vast and slumberous, reigns.
Only there’s a drowsy humming
From yon warm lagoon slow coming:
Tis the dragon-hornet-see!
All bedaubed resplendently,
With yellow on a tawny ground-
Each rich spot nor square nor round,
Rudely heart-shaped, as it were
The blurred and hasty impress there,
Of a vermeil-crusted seal
Dusted o’er with golden meal.
Only there’s a droning where
Yon bright beetle shines in air,
Tracks it in its gleaming flight
With a slanting beam of light,
Rising in the sunshine higher,
Till its shards flame out like fire.
Every other thing is still,
Save the ever-wakeful rill,
Whose cool murmur only throws
Cooler comfort round repose;
Or some ripple in the sea
Of leafy boughs, where, lazily,
Tired summer, in her bower
Turning with the noontide hour,
Heaves a slumberous breath ere she
Once more slumbers peacefully.
O’tis easeful here to lie
Hidden from noon’s scorching eye,
In this grassy cool recess
Musing thus of quietness.
仲夏午间作于林中
查尔斯 哈珀
莽原遍处寂无声
悄然声歇万籁空
不闻高叶啼黄鸟
但觅深林伏秋虫
蝼蚁虽勤栖石后
蝗蝻犹噤无可听
高丘小阜音断绝
四隅沉聩共清宁
半酣似有吟如缕
盐池自远渐低鸣
抬眼但见飞入来
鳞甲耀武号龙蜂
黑袍黄绶点扑朔
斑斑隐雾赤心形
粗爪悍牙称毒虿
戾气乖尖气势横
食饫鞘壳沾金尘
旋舞忽翅独身行
仰看但见轻光逝
寻踪追迹如流萤
直趣高处蔽骄日
万片赤光乍冲腾
周际千般皆不动
唯有细涧水涓腾
似有低语声声诉
梦寝悠凉无限情
繁枝巨叶亘沧海
传漪万顷树间生
此时炎夏惟慵懒
缱绻酷午气益平
但觉彼处可高卧
暂避烈暑灼白睛
草穴葳隧绝静冷
孤思杳去享太清