THERE comes, from yonder height, A soft repining sound, Where forest-leaves are bright, And fall, like flakes of light, To the ground. It is the autumn breeze, That, lightly floating on, Just skims the weedy leas, Just stirs the glowing trees, And is gone. He moans by sedgy brook, And visits, with a sigh, The last pale flowers that look, From out their sunny nook, At the sky. O'er shouting children flies That light October wind, And, kissing cheeks and eyes, He leaves their merry cries Far behind, And wanders on to make That soft uneasy sound By distant wood and lake, Where distant fountains break From the ground. No bower where maidens dwell Can win a moment's stay; Nor fair untrodden dell; He sweeps the upland swell, And away! Mourn'st thou thy homeless state? O soft, repining wind! That early seek'st and late The rest it is thy fate Not to find. Not on the mountain's breast, Not on the ocean's shore, In all the East and West: The wind that stops to rest Is no more. By valleys, woods, and springs, No wonder thou shouldst grieve For all the glorious things Thou touchest with thy wings And must leave. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONGS OF EXPERIENCE: INTRODUCTION by WILLIAM BLAKE MOUNTAIN FROLIC by GEORGE LAWRENCE ANDREWS THE PLACE WHERE MAN SHOULD DIE by MICHAEL JOSEPH BARRY A CHARACTER by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES GOING BACK TO SCHOOL by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE WARTONS AND OTHER EARLY ROMANTIC LANDSCAPE-POETS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE PALACE OF OMARTES by EDWARD GEORGE EARLE LYTTON BULWER-LYTTON |