The first dead leaves of the year are down! Look, how pale they float, Under the bridge of the market-town By wharf and barge and boat! How cold the rain-drenched meadows lie, Heavy with mist each one! And the elm-trees stand how silently Against the horizon! Oh, Love, oh, Life, most strange, most blind Are our days beneath the sun! A leaf on the water; on the wind A feather -- and all is done. The market-town still sleeps -- Sweet Christ, How motionless it seems! As if one night of rain sufficed To cover it with dreams. Can it be only yesterday, On this same bridge I stood, And watched the red sun sink away Behind a fairy wood? The gods protect us all! So soon Can summer cease? So light Can they drift, the leaves that played love's tune? Can the world end in a night? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CHAMBER MUSIC: 30 by JAMES JOYCE EXCELSIOR by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW ANECDOTE OF THE JAR by WALLACE STEVENS TO THE QUEEN by ALFRED TENNYSON THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by MARIA ABDY PRAYER OF AN UNEMPLOYED MAN by W. C. ACKERLY |