Like crimson wind-tossed leaves Scarring the gray fall skies Is mortal ecstasy, so beautiful, so brief, No human rule applies. Poignant, it is, yet touched with pity, too, Pity, that anything so new to life's real breath For all its fresh and buoyant loveliness Could be so near to death. He is, indeed, most wise Who meets it, not with awe, But lightly, with a casual smile, Remembering its flaw. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MOUNTAIN WHIPPOORWILL (A GEORGIA ROMANCE) by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET MARIA CALLAS, THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LEGEND* by MADELINE DEFREES CURTAIN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MOTHERHOOD by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON JONES'S PRIVATE ARGYMENT by SIDNEY LANIER WITH CHAOS IN EACH KISS by TIMOTHY LIU COUNTRYWOMEN by KATHERINE MANSFIELD |