Poems (McDonald)/An Autumn Thought

by Mary Noel McDonald

AN AUTUMN THOUGHT.

Methinks I never saw the autumn woods
So beautiful as now. They have put on
Their rainbow coloured garments hastily,
As from his icy palace in the North,
With a stern eye upon the shrinking flowers,
And hoarsely heralding the coming cold,
The Frost King hurries; and like courtiers, soon
Donned each their robes of state, at his approach.
How brightly the October sunlight gleams
Over the changing forest. See! tall shafts
Of opal, or of amber, rise around,
Like pillars of a genii's banquet hall;
With a fair dome of sapphire over them,
Exceeding beautiful!

            For me they wear,
These frost-touched forest leaves of varied hue,
A beauty which the summer yieldeth not,
Despite its wealth of flowers. I love thee, June!
With thy soft breath, and deeply azure skies,
And purple twilight hours; but more I love
A noon-tide ramble in the Autumn woods,
When through the half-stript branches streams the sun,
And 'neath our feet the dry leaves rustle;
When answering echo mocks the sportsman's gun,
And swift across our path the squirrel springs,
Or nimble-looted hare. The Autumn gales
Have a reviving influence, and awake
A thought of earlier hours, whcn there seemed
No shadow in the sunshine, and the streams
Were ever musical—and far away
From half conned lessons, with a chosen few,
We sought the falling nuts, and joyfully
Broke like a bubbling fountain's silvery tone,
The merry laugh from young and careless hearts;
And life seemed all as full of happiness,
As did that bright day in the Autumn woods.