In Ledwidge’s short lyric, August appears as a woman arriving at dawn over the yellow fields, both beautiful and strong. The speaker imagines her moving through the hay all day, her skin browned by noon light, and he says he will recognize her by her mismatched eyes—one blue like May, one grey like November. That odd detail gives the scene a strange, almost otherworldly feel. The mood is warm and dreamy but also a little haunting; the rusted scythe and the final line about following her away suggest attraction mixed with surrender, as if the speaker is being drawn toward something larger than a summer romance—perhaps the season itself, or a more final passage. He watches from the barn wall, admiring her, waiting to follow.
August — Summary
She'll come at dusky first of day, White over yellow harvest's song. Upon her dewy rainbow way She shall be beautiful and strong. The lidless eye of noon shall spray Tan on her ankles in the hay, Shall kiss her brown the whole day long.
I'll know her in the windrows, tall Above the crickets of the hay. I'll know her when her odd eyes fall, One May-blue, one November-grey. I'll watch her from the red barn wall Take down her rusty scythe, and call, And I will follow her away.