_Second._ The merle and the skylark Will hush for our chorus, Quick wavelets of music, Begin them anon! Good-luck comes to all things That hear us and hearken,— Our myriads of voices Commingling in one. _General Chorus._ Golden, golden Light unfolding, Busily, merrily, work and play, In flowery meadows, And forest-shadows, All the length of a summer day! All the length of a summer day! Sprightly, lightly, Sing we rightly! Moments brightly hurry away! Fruit-tree blossoms, And roses’ bosoms— Clear blue sky of a summer day! Dear blue sky of a summer day! Springlets, brooklets, Greeny nooklets, Hill and valley, and salt-sea spray! Comrade rovers, Fairy lovers,— All the length of a summer day! All the livelong summer day! FORENOON. _Enter two Fairies_ (ROSLING _and_ Another) _separately_. _First._ Greeting, brother! _Second._ Greet thee well! Hast thou any news to tell? How goes sunshine? _First._ Flowers of noon All their eyes will open soon, While ours are closing. What hast done Since the rising of the sun? _Second._ Four wild snails I’ve taught their paces, Pick’d the best ones for the races. Thou? _First._ Where luscious dewdrops lurk, I with fifty went to work, Catching delicious wine that wets The warm blue heart of violets; Last moon it was hawthorn-flower, Next moon ’twill be virgin’s bower, Moon by moon, the varied rose,— To seal in flasks for winter mirth, When frost and darkness wrap the earth. Which wine delights you, fay? _Second._ All those; But none is like the Wine of Rose. With Wine of Rose, In midst of snows The sunny season flows and glows! _First._ Elf, thou lovest best, I think, The time to sit in a cave and drink. _Second._ Is’t not well to have good reason, Thus, for loving every season? White-rose wine Is pure and fine, But red-rose dew, dear tipple of mine! The red flow’rs bud In our summery blood, And the nightingale sings in our brain like a wood.