A Vacation Villanelle
O Halcyon hours of happy holiday,
When frets of function and of fashion flee,
(Sweet is the sunshine, soft the summer’s sway).
Ye whisper ‘welcome’ to our wandering way,
And give a gracious greeting to our glee,
O halcyon hours of happy holiday!
Or pacing prairies in pursuit of prey,
Or sailing silent on a southern sea,
(Sweet is the sunshine, soft the summer’s sway),
Or gliding giddy down some glacier gray,
Or joining in a German jubilee,
O halcyon hours of happy holiday!
We breathe such buoyant bliss that we betray
Our sportive spirits strangely-sans souci
Sweet is the sunshine, soft the summer’s sway,
And dear the dreaming of these days distraits
We find we ye, so fainéants and free,
O halcyon hours of happy holiday!
Cotsford Dick.