Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CHRYSANTHEMUMS, by MARGARET ELIZABETH MUNSON SANGSTER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CHRYSANTHEMUMS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When the last red leaves are shining in the rich / october sun
Last Line: And the fury of the tempest whirl athwart the darkening day.
Alternate Author Name(s): Van Deth, Gerrit, Mrs.
Subject(s): Chrysanthemums; Flowers


WHEN the last red leaves are shining in the rich October sun,
When the twilight, early falling, melts in dreamy dusk away,
Ere the sweet cicada's chirping in the aftermath is done,
Comes my favorite flower of autumn, to illume the pensive day.

Pensive, though in stately splendor, sits the Year, her toiling o'er,—
Pensive still, though on her forehead gleam the jewels of a queen;
For her roses and her lilies bloom around her feet no more,
And her waving fields have bent them to the sickle bright and keen.

With a fragrance aromatic, with a wild and careless grace,
As if somehow to the garden came the freedom of the woods,
Lifts each fair chrysanthemum her dear, captivating face,
Filled with sympathy for us, in our fluctuating moods.

White as bridal robe of beauty, flushed with crimson, blushing deep,
Flaming high with gold, which, torch-like, flings a glory on the air,—
Through all changes, seems this flower vestal purity to keep,
And its breath hath less of passion than of soft, entreating prayer.

Most, I deem, like woman's courage, strongest when the skies are drear,
Is this fearless loveliness, lighting bravely all the way,
Through the autumn weeks, till winter with its storms shall close the year,
And the fury of the tempest whirl athwart the darkening day.





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