I am a pluviophile, that is, a lover of rain. However, I also enjoy sunny days because they are perfect for reading outside. It is lovely to sit under the shade of a tree, whether in a forest or a garden and read. Below are poems you can consider reading the next time you have a picnic. Along with lemonade, this could be a marvelous occasion to appreciate your own quietness.
“A Fairy Song” by William Shakespeare
Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire!
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green;
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their savours;
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip’s ear.
“I Know Not How It Falls on Me” by Emily Brontë
I know not how it falls on me,
This summer evening, hushed and lone;
Yet the faint wind comes soothingly
With something of an olden tone.
Forgive me if I’ve shunned so long
Your gentle greeting, earth and air!
But sorrow withers even the strong,
And who can fight against despair?
“By the Rivers of Babylon We Sat Down and Wept” by Lord Byron
We sat down and wept by the waters
Of Babel, and thought of the day
When our foe, in the hue of his slaughters,
Made Salem’s high places his prey;
And ye, oh her desolate daughters!
Were scattered all weeping away.
While sadly we gazed on the river
Which rolled on in freedom below,
They demanded the song; but, oh never
That triumph the stranger shall know!
May this right hand be withered for ever,
Ere it string our high harp for the foe!
On the willow that harp is suspended,
Oh Salem! Its sound should be free;
And the hour when thy glories were
ended
But left me that token of thee:
And ne’er shall its soft tones be blended
With the voice of the spoiler by me!
“Sea of Strangers” by Lang Leav
In a sea of strangers you’ve longed to know me,
your life spent sailing to my shores;
the arms that yearn to someday hold me,
will ache beneath the heavy oars.
Please take your time and take it slowly,
as all you do will run its course;
and nothing else can take what only,
was always meant as solely yours.
“The Happy Sun Is Shining” by Fernando Pessoa
The happy sun is shining
The fields are green and gay,
But my poor heart is pining
For something far away.
It’s pining just for you,
It’s pining for thy kiss.
It does not matter if you’re true
To this.
What matters is just you.
I now the sea is beaming
Under the summer sun.
I know the waves are gleaming,
Each one and every one.
But I am far from you,
And so far from your kiss!
And that`s all I get that’s really true
In this.
What matters is just you.
Oh, yes, the sky is splendid,
So blue as it now,
The air and light are blended,
Oh yes, hot, anyhow,
Nothing of this is you
I’m absent from your kiss,
That`s all I get that`s sad and true
In this
What matter is just you.
