Walled with fair azures of the wintering year, Late autumn on a windless altar burns: Splendid as rubies from Sabean urns, A holocaust of hues is gathered here. The pear-trees lift a Tyrian tinged with blood; Strange purples lighten in the smouldering plums; The fire-red gold of peach and cherry comes To storm the bronzing borders of the wood. Rich as the pyre of some Hesperian queen, Feeding the ultimate sunset with sad fires, Is this, where Beauty with her doom conspires To tell in flame what she and death may mean. O loveliness grown tragical and dear! My heart hath taken from the torchful leaf A swiftly soaring glory, and the grief Of love is colored like the dying year. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COVERING WINGS by KATHERINE MANSFIELD SEVEN TWILIGHTS: 3 by CONRAD AIKEN DEDICATION IN THESE DAY by HAYDEN CARRUTH YOU KNOW WHAT PEOPLE SAY by JAMES GALVIN DE LITTLE PICKANINNY'S GONE TO SLEEP by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE STARLING; SONNET by AMY LOWELL |