 | Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac |  |
59
WHEN AUTUMN RETURNS.
Summer, as rich in shadows as in suns,
Spreads her thick foliage thicker every day;
She is most bounteous; her free spirit shuns
To give and take away.
Spreads her thick foliage thicker every day;
She is most bounteous; her free spirit shuns
To give and take away.
But thou, grave Autumn, dealest otherwise:
Creating noble colour, and withal
Rifling the woods that bear it, till our eyes
Can penetrate them all.
Creating noble colour, and withal
Rifling the woods that bear it, till our eyes
Can penetrate them all.
And then, what hidden wonders do we see!
What half-forgotten glimpses of our past,
Veil'd since the Spring, through each dismantled tree
Peer out again at last!
What half-forgotten glimpses of our past,
Veil'd since the Spring, through each dismantled tree
Peer out again at last!
60
But, not the baring of the summer trees,
Nor dying down of tall obstructive flowers,
Nor poise of mists above the yellow leas,
Nor glow of sunset hours,—
Nor dying down of tall obstructive flowers,
Nor poise of mists above the yellow leas,
Nor glow of sunset hours,—
Not all that thou canst do or we can dream,
Wins for our purblind souls this one poor bliss—
To see beyond and through the things that seem,
To that which only Is.
Wins for our purblind souls this one poor bliss—
To see beyond and through the things that seem,
To that which only Is.
| Poems Chiefly Lyric and Elegiac | |