The speaker wakes to an unexpected burst of morning light and greets it with a cheerful "Good Lord, my love!" It feels as though time has tipped over: the clock has overturned, the hours have spilled, and dreams are suddenly washed away by daylight. Outside, the signs of early autumn are everywhere, with dripping spider webs, leaves being tidied away, and summer stepping back politely to make room for the new, short days.
Instead of worrying about the loss of summer, the speaker playfully brushes aside scientific talk of the earth circling the sun. Night and day seem to "play leap-frog," and the hours scatter minutes "just for fun." The mood is light, warm and a little mischievous. The closing couplet admits that summer has gone, then immediately questions that. The speaker's own happiness seems to keep summer alive, so the poem ends on gentle, good-humoured contentment rather than sadness.