When the last light dust from the drying stalks Of goldenrod flings the first fall signs, And the ambient air is choked with autumn, And asters spell their purple message In ragged letters, clinging to the hills That push up out of the deep dark earth Like miniature mountains freed from prairie prisons; When water runs slowly over cold stones, And sluggish rivers feel the burden Of the wild geese, winging down the wind; While in the frost-tinged darkness, a star Falls like a plummet from the mute heavens: Then do I know the beauty born in dying, Then do I know the dark boughs will be green again; Oh, let my heart remember this -- remember -- Grant us to keep it in the hearts of men. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE BEING AS MEMORY by HAYDEN CARRUTH SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COONEY POTTER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS NATIONALITY by THOMAS OSBORNE DAVIS PALINGENESIS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE UNSCARRED FIGHTER REMEMBERS FRANCE by KENNETH SLADE ALLING |