Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHANT D'AUTOMNE, by CLAUDE HOUGHTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHANT D'AUTOMNE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The lamp is lit and all the world is gray
Last Line: "I paint my dreams."
Subject(s): Dreams; Hearts; Love; Memory; Passion; Nightmares


THE lamp is lit and all the world is gray,
The restless wind moans round the dripping eaves,
It is the end of this short autumn day,
A day of pearl-gray mist and falling leaves.

Brown withered leaves ... sad heart, forgive, forget;
Did not thy summer perish long ago:
Ah, why this infinite and strange regret,
This endless woe?

Outside the shadows gather in the gloom;
A ghostly wilderness the whole world seems;
But in the mystic silence of my room
Blossom the fragrant flowers of my dreams.

Forget thy dreams, sad heart, forget, forgive,
Even the world that stole thy dreams from thee,
Ay, even life that only lets them live
In memory.

Swift comes the night; ah, soon the day is fled,
A day of falling leaves and pearl-gray mist;
And memory arises from the dead ...
I dream of distant dawns of amethyst.

Sad heart (ah, listen how the cold rain drips
Unceasingly upon the roof above),
Forget the crimson glory of her lips,
Forgive thy love.

I dream of distant dawns and jewelled nights,
When radiant stars were dancing on the sea,
I blend the harmonies of dead delights
In the religion of my memory.

O heart! forget her passionless pure eyes,
Forget the beauty time can never mar,
Forget the happier days 'neath happier skies,
Forget the star!

"Nay, I am flooded with a tender light,
Each single memory a beacon seems;
Upon the mighty canvas of the night
I paint my dreams."





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