Oh, the autumn-tide is the carnival tide, And what shall the carnival wear? Shall it be the blue of the haze-hung skies That is blent with gold and with topaz dyes? Shall it be the pied soft green that lies On the meadow slope and the mountain side, Shimmering far and fair? Nay, none of these for the carnival tide, For red is the carnival wear! And never a redder carnival shone Than now where the San and the Aisne flow on In the red of the eve, in the red of the dawn, And the war-fires rule and the thunders ride Under the autumn air! Of what avail is this carnival tide, This blood-red carnival wear, These carnival lines that rock and reel And eddy and sally and meet and wheel And break like a surge on a shore of steel? Aye, what, when the doom-led men have died, Does the King of the carnival care? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PROMETHEUS by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE THE KISS by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR MIRACLE by LIBERTY HYDE BAILEY THE BATTLE OF THE PIGMIES AND THE CRANES by JAMES BEATTIE MODERN MOSES, OR 'MY POLICY' MAN by JAMES MADISON BELL EUCALYPTUS TREES by SISTER BENEDICTION |