When the nights have lengthened, And the days have shorter grown; When the birds have flown southward To a milder, warmer zone; When the nights and mornings have Grown frosty, sharp and cold; When leaves have changed their color From green to red and gold; When apple trees are burdened With delicious apples bright; When the creseent harvest moon Shines all through the night, Then to hunt and gather nuts, What fun and what delight! And store them away to eat By winter fires bright. Hickory nuts and walnuts, Hazelnuts and chestnuts brown; Butternuts and chinquapins, Listen at 'em patter down! Now and then a squirrel Who thinks perhaps he isn't seen, Frisks quickly o'er the ground, With quiet, cautious mien. Quickly but quietly he gets His nuts in innocence; Then goes a-frisking up the hill, Far by the old rail fence. As if to say, with impudence: "If you can, catch me!" Then disappears among the trees, In triumph and in glee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HOUND OF HEAVEN by FRANCIS THOMPSON BALLADE OF A TRAVELLER'S JINX by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE LAST CAESAR, 1851-1870 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH TO A GIPSY CHILD BY THE SEA-SHORE by MATTHEW ARNOLD SIR RUPERT THE FEARLESS; A LEGEND OF GERMANY by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM LINES SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY BURNS by ROBERT BURNS |