The Idler’s Calendar. Twelve Sonnets For The Months. June

A DAY AT HAMPTON COURT

It is our custom, once in every year,
Mine and two others’, when the chestnut trees
Are white at Bushey, Ascot being near,
To drive to Hampton Court, and there, at ease
In that most fair of English palaces,
Spend a long summer’s day. What better cheer
Than the old “Greyhound’s,” seek it where you please?
And where a royal garden statelier?

The morning goes in tennis, a four set,
With George the marker. ‘Tis a game for gods,
Full of return and volley at the net,
And laughter and mirth–making episodes
Not wholly classic. But the afternoon
Finds us punt–fishing idly with our rods,
Nodding and half in dreams, till all too soon
Darkness and dinner drive us back to town.