SUMMER !

(Sketched, in metrical spasms, by a Sufferer therefrom.)

Damp days,
Chill nights;
Morning haze,
Evening blights;
Grey skies,
Sodden earth;
Cramped cricket,
Arctic squall;
Drenched wicket,
Soaked ball;
Park a puddle.
Row a slough;		Eaves dropping,
Red noses;
Pools, splashes,
Spouts, spirts;
Swollen sashes.
Gutters, squirts;
Butterflies
Weak at birth;
Gloom over,
Grime under;
Soaked clover.
Hail, thunder;
Wind, wet,
Squelch, squash;
Gingham yet,
Mackintosh;
Lawns afloat,
Paths dirt;
Top-coat,
Flannel shirt;		Limp curls,
Splashed hose;
Pretty girls,
Damp shows;
Piled grates,
Cold shivers;
Aching pates,
Sluggish livers;
Morn cruel,
Eve a biter;
Hot gruel,
Sweet nitre;
Voice a creaky
Cracked cadenza,
Face "peaky,"
INFLUENZA!!!
Gloom growing,
Glum, glummer
Noses (and nothing else) blowing,—
That's Summer!
Lilacs drenched,
Laburnums pallid;
Spirits quenched,
Souls squalid;
Tennis "off,"
Icy breeze;
Croak, cough,
Wheeze, sneeze;		Muck, muddle,
Slush, snow;
Hay-fever
(No hay!)
Spoilt beaver,
Shoes asplay;
Lilies flopping,
Washed-out roses;