University of Virginia Library

XXIX.

Month of the fire-tinged leaves! why shall December
Scatter them, saying, “Honour to the strong?”
Quietest Month of Robin Redbreast's song!

290

Month of its sweetest quietness, September!
Thought's Month! pale townsmen, stretch'd in pain, remember
Thy second bloom of dewy flowers, and long
In vain, to wander with the golden gorse,
Where heav'n's blue brightens, and thy blue bells throng
Over the uplands. Village children learn
Early, to seek them there. The poor man's horse
Rejoices, too; and while the gorgeous fern
Deepens the glory of thy yellow wastes,
The sad-brow'd gipsy to their greenness hastes,
And to thy fountain'd swamps the worm-fed birds return.