Summer's Sun

O Summer as sweet as nectar drops
you live and die each passing day
a light draught sweeps thee yonder west
a dark drizzle recesses fill
you smile but through the muffling clouds
that lie in eyes and not in skies
O What a pity if under your light
most grisly injustices abide
How far is truth from what you see
How far goodness from verity
Or is this life a better bet
against a mortal pain?
O chequered swarms skidding through
the fettered rails of blue
like frisking shoals on silent seas
like vernal gardens drenched in bees
The fading sun stays yonder large
for sulken shores its sails embarge
to leave us sob in timeless ache
through bleak and stony nights.

• Raman Butta