Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PART OF AUTUMN, by MARIE EMILIE GILCHRIST



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PART OF AUTUMN, by                    
First Line: Part of autumn it is, perhaps
Last Line: To find a beauty in being slow.
Subject(s): Autumn; Harvest; Pumpkins; Seasons; Fall


Part of autumn it is, perhaps
To find a beauty in being slow;
Fears for the unripe grain are past,
All our harvest is safe from the snow.
And before snow flies there's another harvest --
Apple-green wisdom slowly mellowing,
Smooth hard nuts for cracking and munching,
Leaves to shed that are sapped and yellowing.
These take a golden space of time
To gather and handle, time unreckoned,
Quaint old time with the latch-string out --
Not the modern locks of minute and second;
Time to wonder, and measure the space
From the fruit in your hand to the far horizon,
Time to think until your forget
The pumpkin-heap you had your eyes on;
Time so wide it takes life in
Across its worn old wooden sill --
A shining load of human straws.
In time's great barn, hay-strewn and still
Fronting the stubble fields, I pause,
Turning my thoughts in the afternoon sun
To catch a tinge of ripeness so.

Part of autumn it is, perhaps
To find a beauty in being slow.





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