To a Northern Summer Morning

Soft, cool Northern Summer morning,

You often greet my eyes in pleasant dreams,

Old friend, who whispered to me in my youth

Of love, or sadness, or in echoes deep

Of great feeling from another time,

I come again to you in body changed

By toiling many days in distant lands,

Where I saw but a brief glimpse of your shadow,

You have not faded like all else, it seems,

But grown more rich and soulful deep somehow,

With golden mist that hangs like timeless peace

Upon the trees and grass and endless shades

That spread voluptuously around my path—

Has my soul changed that much in all these years,

That you seem to mean so much more to me?

Or have I rather become more like you,

Mellowed with sadness and with that calm joy

That has known death and loss, and yet loves life,

And now can speak to you with the soft smile

Old friends wear when they see each other again.

—July, 2013

Daniel Leach is a poet living in Houston, Texas. He has spent much of his life fighting for the ideals of classical culture and and poetry. His volume of poetry, compiling over 20 years of composition, is entitled "Voices on the Wind."