Once on an autumn day as I reposed Beneath a noon-beam, pallid yet not dull, The branch above my head dipt itself full Of that white sunshine momently, and closed; While, ever and anon, the ashen keys Dropt down beside the tarnished hollyhocks, The scarlet crane's-bill, and the faded stocks, - Flung from the shuffling leafage by the breeze. How wistfully I marked the year's decay, Forecasting all the dreary wind and rain; 'Twas the last week the swallow would remain - How jealously I watched his circling play! A few brief hours, and he would dart away, No more to turn upon himself again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THIRD BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 20 by THOMAS CAMPION MERCILES BEAUTE; A TRIPLE ROUNDEL: 3. ESCAPE by GEOFFREY CHAUCER SONG OF SUMMER by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR FLOWERS WITHOUT FRUIT by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN THE BLACKBIRD by ALFRED TENNYSON ALL THINGS CAN TEMPT ME by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS DROWNED IN HARBOUR by ANTIPATER OF THESSALONICA |