IN AUTUMN.
251
Swell beyond swell the hills uplift—
The hills serene;
Slope beyond slope they ebb away
Into the distance azure-gray;
And over them all,
Through veils of amethyst vaguely seen
Magical lights incessantly shift,
Moved by the wonder hands of Day—
Over the hills serene!
The hills serene;
Slope beyond slope they ebb away
Into the distance azure-gray;
And over them all,
Through veils of amethyst vaguely seen
Magical lights incessantly shift,
Moved by the wonder hands of Day—
Over the hills serene!
No ripple breaks
The lucid lakes
Up from whose margins the gay banks climb—
Into whose deeps the shadows descend
Like sunken gardens in their prime,
Whose softly-pictured terraces end
In emerald grottos where Naiads dream
While the unstirred rushes over them stream.
From the woodbine draping the cottage thatch
The wandering winds as they pass,
Tenderly, one by one, detach
Leaves of crimson that flame in the sun:
One by one,
Slowly downward they waver, and twirl,
And alight on the trampled grass.
Day by day the vine-leaves curl
Revealing the heavily hanging grapes
In tempting clusters of rarest shapes,
That out of the heart of summer grew;
The lucid lakes
Up from whose margins the gay banks climb—
Into whose deeps the shadows descend
Like sunken gardens in their prime,
Whose softly-pictured terraces end
In emerald grottos where Naiads dream
While the unstirred rushes over them stream.
From the woodbine draping the cottage thatch
The wandering winds as they pass,
Tenderly, one by one, detach
Leaves of crimson that flame in the sun:
One by one,
Slowly downward they waver, and twirl,
And alight on the trampled grass.
Day by day the vine-leaves curl
Revealing the heavily hanging grapes
In tempting clusters of rarest shapes,
That out of the heart of summer grew;
