 | Wood-notes and Church-bells |  |
60
AUTUMN LEAVES.
Where elms and beeches fading burn
Like sunset clouds in gold attire,
Let me the solemn lesson learn
Taught by their thousand tongues of fire.
Like sunset clouds in gold attire,
Let me the solemn lesson learn
Taught by their thousand tongues of fire.
These reddening leaves, hark, how they sigh
And whisper a pathetic tale—
One last sad dirge before they die
And float upon the evening gale.
And whisper a pathetic tale—
One last sad dirge before they die
And float upon the evening gale.
How brief their sylvan joys have been,
How quickly flown their Summer day,
Since first they donned their vernal green
And fluttered in the pride of May.
How quickly flown their Summer day,
Since first they donned their vernal green
And fluttered in the pride of May.
61
While to bird-music sweetly strung
The merry dancing leaves kept time;
For hope was bright and life was young,
And Nature revelled in her prime.
The merry dancing leaves kept time;
For hope was bright and life was young,
And Nature revelled in her prime.
From glistening buds to branches sere
How swiftly have the seasons sped;
How fleet the footsteps of the year,
How soon its radiant hope is dead.
How swiftly have the seasons sped;
How fleet the footsteps of the year,
How soon its radiant hope is dead.
And we upon the wrinkled palm
Of the brown leaf our fortune read;
That transient is the Summer calm,
And Winter blasts will come with speed.
Of the brown leaf our fortune read;
That transient is the Summer calm,
And Winter blasts will come with speed.
“We all do fade” e'en “as a leaf,”
Our hold on life soon torn away;
Oh, let us seize earth's moment brief
To win Heaven's wreaths which ne'er decay.
Our hold on life soon torn away;
Oh, let us seize earth's moment brief
To win Heaven's wreaths which ne'er decay.
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