Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SATURNINE AUTUMN, by JOHN FREEMAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SATURNINE AUTUMN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Harsh autumn hides in the eden hues of / spring
Last Line: Far-off, saturnine autumn stumbling on.
Subject(s): Autumn; Nature; Seasons; Fall


HARSH Autumn hides in the Eden hues of Spring.
—The crocus and dew-shaking celandine,
Evening's enchanted thrush, the lesser wing
Of hosts that hour nor station choose to sing
But pour daylong delight; the snaky line
Of new-slough'd woods with glittering yellow shine;

Birds, gilded grass, the budless boughs and buds
Breaking, but most that never-faithless thrush,
Spring's pioneers, her heedless army's floods,
And vast camp-followers' merry multitudes—
Are weak, or traitors; in one startled hush
Of song and motion, at the sun's fevered flush,

They shake, pale, yield. The giant Ghost of Time—
Dumb Titan—now disarms them, they are undone.
Fantastic oak, fierce beech, willow and lime,
The birds that nigh heaven's starry Orchard climb,
Recall how once they heard, 'neath Spring's shrill tone,
Far-off, saturnine Autumn stumbling on.





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