Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


WHEN THE LEAVES FALL by JAMES STEPHENS

First Line: THE LEAVES FALL SLOWLY FROM THE TREES
Last Line: IS AN APACHE OF A WIND.
Subject(s): AUTUMN; SEASONS; FALL;

The leaves fall slowly from the trees
And everybody walks on them:
Once they had a time of ease
In limpid air, and bird and breeze
Stayed a while to talk with them.

Bright they were, and debonair
As they fluttered up and down;
Dancing in the sunny air,
Dancing without knowing there
Was a gutter in a town.

Now they have no place at all!
All the home that they can find
Is a gutter by a wall;
And the wind that waits their fall
Is an apache of a wind.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net