Scarlet or golden, olive or red-brown,

Adorned the forest, save where gloomy firs

Stretched their red arms, or melancholy pines

Reared their tall pyramids of foliage black,

Filling the dusky scene with deeper shade,

And adding darkness to the clouds of heaven.

The naked branches of the hedgerow elms

Lashed wildly round, and threatened to cast forth

The jetty masses of the old rook nests

Lodged midst their topmost twigs. The withered leaves