IN MEMORABILIA MORTIS
BY FRANCIS SHERMAN
Decoration
M DCCC XCVI
"BUT YE—SHALL I BEHOLD YOU WHEN LEAVES FALL,
IN SOME SAD EVENING OP THE AUTUMN-TIDE?"
IN MEMORABILIA MORTIS
I
marked the slow withdrawal of the year,
Out on the hills the scarlet maples shone—
The glad, first herald of triumphant dawn.
A robin's song fell through the silence—clear
As long ago it rang when June was here.
Then, suddenly, a few grey clouds were drawn
Across the sky; and all the song was gone,
And all the gold was quick to disappear,
That day the sun seemed loth to come again;
And all day long the low wind spoke of rain,
Far off, beyond the hills; and moaned, like one
Wounded, among the pines: as though the Earth,
Knowing some giant grief had come to birth,
Had wearied of the Summer and the Sun.