Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, I WOULD HOLD THE AUTUMN, by RUTH SMITH EWY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

I WOULD HOLD THE AUTUMN, by                    
First Line: Could I incase within a crystal vault
Last Line: "and resurrection -- there our glory lies."
Subject(s): Autumn; Seasons; Fall


Could I incase within a crystal vault
Or wrap in crisping sheets of cellophane
The burning-russet vesture of the wood,
Its pungent fragrances, this quiet rain,
And hold the beauty here, transfixed in time
While summers, winters pass my little door.
Could I but gather you, my tranquil days,
My own September, that there be no more
Of unclothed tendril clinging to the rag,
Of seared corolla or of bursted pod,
That I might learn beneath these coral boughs
The less of earth, a little more of God.
Could I but gather you, my burnished hills,
My lakes grown bluer in placidity,
The shocks of corn upon a smoky line --
Oh, could I gather, hoard you here for me!

Then in the martins clanning on the fence
With quaint sublimeness of departing birds,
And in the leaves that wafted by my knee,
In chilling winds came clear, unwhispered words,
"Our strength is not the strength of pulchritude,
In lands' fat offerings and festive dress,
Our beauty, only charms of cyclic change;
Our honor is of shame's own nakedness.
So count us not unless you count the storm
The lightening trail that leads to soil's dark breast;
Unless you note the rotting, crumbling hulk
Of germinating seed, discount the rest.
The muddy ground, the bare and ugly forms
Of baby birds, and mummied butterflies.
It is in death, in death's dark silences
And resurrection -- there our glory lies."





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