A cloud streaked sky of azure blue
Canopies the dampened ground
Where Autumnal leaves of every hue
Are windswept piles the children found
And kicked about the garden's green
Then left them strewn once more to pile
In the sworling wind, with hands unseen,
Who touched the Summer-end's heart awhile
The muddied earth too damp to sow
Lies fallow 'till the table falls
Enough to end damp-rot and grow
Fresh crops to fill the market stalls.
There's morning mists and whitened ground
To tempt you out to breathe the air
Of morning! - there's none cleaner found
And see dew-clad cobwebs hanging there.
Blackberries and hips adorn the hedge
With late honeysuckle fading slow,
Nettles and dock on wayside edge
Are all preparing for the snow
A bird strikes up! I hear his song.....
As if upon some coppice gate of yore
It sings of Summers passed and gone...
To come again no more.
Lucy Burrow
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-autumning/
