Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Henry Charles Beeching b. 185–

A Summer Day

GREEN leaves panting for joy with the great wind rushing through;

A burst of the sun from cloud and a sparkle on valley and hill,

Gold on the corn, and red on the poppy, and on the rill

Silver, and over all white clouds afloat in the blue.

Swallows that dart, a lark unseen, innumerous song

Chirruped and twittered, a lowing of cows in the meadow grass,

Murmuring gnats, and bees that suck their honey and pass:

God is alive, and at work in the world:—we did it wrong.

Human eyes, and human hands, and a human face

Darkly beheld before in a vision, not understood,

Do I at last begin to feel as I stand and gaze

Why God waited for this, then called the world very good?