When Day Is Done

A poem by Mrs. Roy L Peifer
(nee Mae Belle Feese)

Isn’t it fine, when the day is done,
To rest in the rays of the setting sun,
Gently fanned by a western breeze;
To list to the hum of the drowsy bees,
To gaze at the earth and the skies of blue
And know that it all belongs to you?

Isn’t it fine, at the close of day,
To scent the breath of the new-mown hay
And the mellow sweetness of golden grain,
To stroll in the dust down a country lane,
To watch the moon rise round and gold,
And know that is all is yours to hold?

When all the sounds of the day are stilled,
I like to stroll through the fields I’ve tilled
Where I’ve laboured with brain and heart and hand
To wrest my food from this vibrant land,
To gaze at the earth and the sky’s blue dome
And to know that it all is mine to own.

Oh, I’m glad that you need no gold to buy
The earth or the stars or the friendly sky;
The scent of a rose or a night bird’s trill
Or the sun sinking slowly behind a hill;
Now I am as rich as a man can be
For the whole wide world belongs to me!

I’ve tried to find information online about this poet, when and where she lived, etc. I see she, or her descendants, published a book of poems in 1982. Unavailable, says Amazon.
I couldn’t find this particular verse online, just in a friend’s Summer ‘Ideals’ magazine from May 1955. I see that if you want a copy, you can order it from Amazon for about $7.