252
AUTUMN.
Dusky-purple and amber-white,
Warmed in the nooning and cooled in the night,
Mingled of honey, and sunlight, and dew.
The breeze through the orchard-alley sweeps,
And russet-brown leaves in dusty heaps
Eddy and whirl;
And russet-brown apples, and rosy-cheeked,
Fall from the ruddy half-rifled bough,
Strewing the grassy patch
With its footpath trail below,
Where the bare-headed, sunburnt famer's girl
Gathers the fairest and leaves the rest
For the gold-brown bee in his honey quest,
And the zealous ants that bushy swarm
Over the bruises mellow and warm;
While chicks full feathered and yellow-beaked
Roam in the sunshine and leisurely scratch
For the helpless worm withdrawing its coil
Lazily into the loosened soil.
Warmed in the nooning and cooled in the night,
Mingled of honey, and sunlight, and dew.
The breeze through the orchard-alley sweeps,
And russet-brown leaves in dusty heaps
Eddy and whirl;
And russet-brown apples, and rosy-cheeked,
Fall from the ruddy half-rifled bough,
Strewing the grassy patch
With its footpath trail below,
Where the bare-headed, sunburnt famer's girl
Gathers the fairest and leaves the rest
For the gold-brown bee in his honey quest,
And the zealous ants that bushy swarm
Over the bruises mellow and warm;
While chicks full feathered and yellow-beaked
Roam in the sunshine and leisurely scratch
For the helpless worm withdrawing its coil
Lazily into the loosened soil.
Streaming in at the wide barn door
Warm lies the sun on the well-worn floor
Scattered with wisps of straw and grain
From the generous wain.
Heaped high as the rafters the sweet-smelling hay
O'erhangs the bursting loft,
And a breath from the orchard croft
Stirs the loosened spears, and they drop away
Noiselessly-soft!
Warm lies the sun on the well-worn floor
Scattered with wisps of straw and grain
From the generous wain.
Heaped high as the rafters the sweet-smelling hay
O'erhangs the bursting loft,
And a breath from the orchard croft
Stirs the loosened spears, and they drop away
Noiselessly-soft!
