A little while longer! the grasshopper sang;
Seed-pods and silver-beards rippled and rang;
The very airs shook to his passionate cry
Under that uncaring autumnal sky,
Through the evenings draw in and the breeze of the morning,
A blade with an edge to it, gives me fair warning.
Stay a while, Summer, not bid the days pass.
Leave me a season to sing in the grass.
Lord of the universe, grant me, I pray
One little day longer -- just one little day.
Madly the honey-bee buzzed in the tall
White Easter daisies against the brick wall,
Scrabbled and scrambled and fumbled and fell
Out of the door of a red-fuschia bell;
With pollen to gather and honey to seek,
Crammed in an hour the work of a week;
Blundered and floundered and buzzed as he flew.
Oh, sunlight and summertime, wait for me too;
Grant me, high heaven, before my wings fray,
One little day longer -- just one little day.
Nature, regardless of praise or protest,
Lauds, alleluias, or frantic requests,
Drowses in somnolent warmth and content,
All rivalries over and all passion spent.
But many a mortal still cries to the moon
Oh, surely, it cannot be ended so soon ...
Here's one old lover of days like today
At one with the insects, as foolish as they;
Deep in the hearts whispers, Lord, I implore
One more little season -- one little life more.
First published in The Bulletin, 4 May 1955
