Poetic Inspiration


Robert Louis Stevenson, Summer Sun, c. 1885

Great is the sun, and wide he goes  Through empty heaven with repose;  And in the blue and glowing days  More thick than rain he showers his rays. 
Though closer still the blinds we pull  To keep the shady parlour cool,  Yet he will find a chink or two  To slip his golden fingers through.  The dusty attic spider-clad  He, through the keyhole, maketh glad;  And through the broken edge of tiles  Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.  Meantime his golden face around  He bares to all the garden ground,  And sheds a warm and glittering look  Among the ivy's inmost nook.  Above the hills, along the blue,  Round the bright air with footing true,  To please the child, to paint the rose,  The gardener of the World, he goes.