AUTUMN WOODS.
Ere, in the northern gale,
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of Autumn all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.
The mountains that enfold
In their wide sweep the colored landscape round,
Seem groups of giant kings, in purple and gold,
That guard the enchanted ground.
I roam the woods that crown
The upland, where the mingled splendors glow—
Where the gay company of trees look down
On the green fields below.
My steps are not alone
In these bright walks; the sweet southwest, at play,
Flies, rustling, where the painted leaves are strewn
Along the winding way.
And far in heaven, the while,
The sun that sends that gale to wander here,
Pours out on the fair earth his quiet smile,
The sweetest of the year.
Where now the solemn shade,
Verdure and gloom, where many branches meet;
So grateful when the noon of summer made
The valleys rich with heat?
Let in through all the trees
Come the strange rays; the forest depths are bright!
Their sunny-colored foliage in the breeze
Twinkles, like beams of light.
The rivulet, late unseen,
Where, bickering through the shrubs, its waters run,
Shines with the image of its golden screen,
And glimmerings of the sun.
Beneath yon crimson tree,
Lover to listening maid might breathe his flame,
Nor mark within its roseate canopy
Her blush of maiden shame.
Oh, Autumn, why so soon
Depart the hues that make thy forests glad,
Thy gentle wind, and thy fair sunny noon,
And leave thee wild and sad!
Ah! twere a lot too bless’d
Forever in thy colored shades to stray;
Amid the tresses of the soft southwest,
To rove and dream for aye;
And leave the vain, low strife
That makes men mad—the tug for wealth and power,
The passions and the cares that wither life,
And waste its little hour.
William C. Bryant.