Page:Poems Elliott.djvu/36

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Thanksgiving
(1916)

The scarlet of sumach and creeper and vine,
The scent of the grape, distilled into wine,
The warm, aromatic, sweet odor of pine,
   Have fled with October.
The woods are all yellow and russet and brown,
The leaves, one by one, float silently down,
Chill winds are astir and the gray heavens frown,
   All Nature grows sober.

Then silently, lightly, the first flakes of snow
Fall thick on the frozen clods below,
And hoarse the cries of the wheeling crow—
   Portent of November.
Still bleaker the winds to a roaring blast—
Come, hasten to make door and window fast.
Let more and more wood on the fire be cast—
   Cherish each glowing ember.

***