Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, OCTOBER, by D. M. JORDAN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

OCTOBER, by                    
First Line: Oh, haunting dreams of a sweet summer dead!
Last Line: Where you will bloom more infinitely fair.
Subject(s): Autumn; October; Seasons; Fall


OH, haunting dreams of a sweet summer dead!
Ye bring me heart-ache in your whispers low, --
Echoes of song I may not hear again,
Voices whose tones were silent long ago;
Visions of orchards crowned with bridal bloom,
Where apple-blossoms scent the air of May,
And from the sloping hillside comes the sound
Of sweet-voiced children at their happy play.

There is a low, sad rustle in the air,
Among the yellow banners of the corn;
The faded sunflower droops her heavy head,
The garden border of its wealth is shorn.
A subtile stillness broods o'er all the scene,
The benediction of the year has come;
The sheaves are garnered from the fading field,
The husbandman has sung the "Harvest Home."

In faded meadows, where the partridge trills
His clear, loud song to call his wandering mate,
The streams are shallow and the grasses brown,
Where scarlet poppies flecked the field but late.
There is a whisper in the falling stream,
A sigh through all the aisles of forest trees,
A tremulous vibration in the songs
The wild birds pour upon the evening breeze.

The sweet, dead days will come to us no more;
New summers may bring harvests of delight,
Fair days may dawn with eyes of splendid hue,
They cannot shine so infinitely bright
As the sweet, vanished hours which we have lost
Or are they only garnered safe and sure,
To wait for us in some far, future world,
Where summers shall eternally endure?

The rustling leaves drop softly at my feet,
Warm airs caress my cheeks with loving kiss,
No chill of autumn shivers in the air,
Yet something indefinable I miss.
O Summer sweet, if never more on earth
I may rejoice in all your beauty rare,
I cannot say farewell, for we shall meet
Where you will bloom more infinitely fair.





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