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