Summer Is Here

Spring gathers up its sleeves from the face of the earth,
and nothing remains in the hills of Lebanon, its plains and its valleys,
but your phantoms, O daisies, O violets,
O lavender.

Blessed are you, O Spring...
How many a soil you have gladdened, how many a sky you have set dancing,
and how many eyes have slept upon your palm, and hearts
awakened... So farewell... until we meet in a lovelier
tomorrow: in which the "evacuation" of force from every
approach of right shall be complete!

And now, O Spring...
here Summer has arrived,
so bear with us if we have received him with an open
welcome, as has been our way with the guest from time
immemorial...

And what a dear and generous guest he is!
This Summer whose dusky mounts have looked out
over the shore, the mountain, and the gardens.
Welcome, then, to him.
And let his sun and his air and his waves tickle
our bodies: skin and heart and soul.