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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AUTUMN by ALBERT SAMAIN

First Line: SLOWLY WE GO WITH THE OLD DOG CLOSE BEHIND US
Last Line: OF DEAD ILLUSIONS AS OF CHILDREN THAT HAVE DIED.
Subject(s): DEATH - CHILDREN; GRIEF; DEATH - BABIES; SORROW; SADNESS;

SLOWLY we go with the old dog close behind us,
Tread once again on the road too well we know.
Red thro' the leafy aisle the dying sunbeams filter;
Dark on the farther sky the grieving women go.
As on some cloister garth, green and cell-surrounded,
Still is the air with a sadness self-indrawn;
Each golden leaf over-ripened flutters downward
Like a phantom memory, slow-falling on the lawn.

Silence walks between. ... Hearts that furtively are scheming,
Weary of their wayfaring and ripe for new emprise,
Brood on their secret hopes of sighting the old haven
Whence they set sail with the morning in their eyes.
But all the woods to-night are so fulfilled of sorrow
That ev'n our hearts are moved to lay all self aside;
Soft are our stifled words that whisper in the twilight
Of dead illusions as of children that have died.



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