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Poems

by William Ernest Henley

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XXXIII

[The time of the silence]

The time of the silence
Of birds is upon us:
Rust in the chestnut leaf,

177

Dust in the stubble:
The turn of the Year
And the call to decay.
Stately and splendid,
The Summer passes:
Sad with satiety,
Sick with fulfilment;
Spent and consumed,
But august till the end.
By wilting hedgerows
And white-hot highways,
Bearing its memories
Even as a burden,
The tired heart plods
For a place of rest.