Someone tell singer Florence Welch that the dog days aren’t over, because I’m still sweating like crazy in this July heat. (What do you meannnn that the heat index on Monday was 115 degrees???)

Anyways, here are some summer- themed poetry to help us all find this oven-heated month of July more tolerable and at least mildly edifying.

(Love Island has no educational value, kids! Do your summer reading instead!)

Moonlight, Summer Moonlight Emily Brontё 

Tis moonlight, summer moonlight, All soft and still and fair; The solemn hour of midnight Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere, But most where trees are sending Their breezy boughs on high, Or stooping low are lending A shelter from the sky.

And there in those wild bowers A lovely form is laid; Green grass and dew-steeped flowers Wave gently round her head.

June, John Updike 

The sun is rich And gladly pays In golden hours, Silver days, And long green weeks That never end.

School’s out.

The time is ours to spend.

There’s Little League, Hopscotch, the creek, And, after supper, Hide- and- seek.

The live-long light Is like a dream, and freckles come Like flies to cream.

A Boat Beneath a Sunny Sky, Lewis Carroll

 A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July — Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear — Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die: Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear, Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream — Lingering in the golden gleam — Life, what is it but a dream?

Andrea Gutierrez is the managing editor of the Bryan County News.