June in Virgo

June meets the Virgin with triumphant air, Each the gay handmaid of the passing Year; Charm’d they survey her, ’mid the zephyrs bland, Bright and consummate, on the zenith stand. She views on earth’s warm fields, the rustics blithe, Sweep thro’ the shivering grass the gleamy scythe; Stout maids th’ exhaling treasure shake around, And ringing wains, yet empty, beat the ground. Now heap’d, thro’ lanes, she sees them nodding slow, Scattering their fragrant litter as they go. So pass the hours of long-protracted light Till glimmering falls the scarcely curtain’d night.