Parting with Summer

As friends who part, and know not if again
They ever shall take hands, so this still day,
By this still sea, I and the summer say
Our long farewell. The air is soft with rain.
Tender with trouble of this parting pain;
And sea and sky are of one pensive gray.
The small waves seem to sigh about the Bay,
As if they feared what the stern Fates ordain.

Autumn will mock us for a little space
With Summer's semblance; but too well we know
That hectic flush which burns while life decays:
Oh, better the wild Winter winds that blow
The sea-foam, like tumultuous banks of snow,
And in our hearts Summer's remembered grace!