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Later Poems of Alexander Anderson

"Surfaceman": Edited with a Biographical Sketch, by Alexander Brown: A New Edition

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THE AUTUMN LEAF.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THE AUTUMN LEAF.

Ah, dear, we part for ever,
You with a longing sigh,
I with a heart that never
Can thrill with beauty nigh.
I know that time discloses
Brief joy and longer grief;
To you the time of roses
To me the autumn leaf.
I take the leaf and wear it,
With all the pain it brings;
The bitter winds they tear it
As to my brow it clings.
But time, the still offender,
Gives of his gifts the chief;
To you the rose's splendour,
To me the autumn leaf.

64

A little time for mating
Is all the gods allow,
A little room for hating
And then they veil the brow.
They give where love reposes
A space as swift and brief
To you the time of roses
To me the autumn leaf.