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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


NOVEMBER by PERCY STICKNEY GRANT

First Line: I PUSH IN MY HOUSE-DOOR WIDE
Last Line: OR, I PERISH, TOO, AS THEY.
Subject(s): NOVEMBER;

I push in my house-door wide.
The fallen, sear leaves outside,
Aswirl in the autumn wind,
Like stealthy souls that have sinned,
All shrunken and hectic, dry,
Outstrip me and hasten by
O'er vestibule, hall and stair,
They rattle and battle there;
As if to forsake the dead,
The swift coming cold, the dread,
To flee from the Winter's storm
And fawn on the live, the warm,
In search of the fire's glow,
The Summer dead long ago.
But I -- I must close the door,
Across the bright, leaf-strewn floor.
The leaves underneath my feet
Must wander again the street,
From hearth and from heart swept away;
Or, I perish, too, as they.



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