The sky is veiled in tears; each gray confine

Bespeaks the shrunken branch the leaves forsake.

"I laugh with ruddy Autumn in the morn;

I sound his praises in the golden light;

But when high noon has passed and raven night

Comes rushing down, I wail with those forlorn:

The dying leaves, the lone flowers, pale and torn,

The multitudes confronting death or flight."


RICHARD HUNTINGTON