Third act of the eternal play! In poster-like emblazonries, "Autumn once more begins to-day" -- 'Tis written all across the trees In yellow letters like Chinese. How many hundred centuries Hath run this play, with ne'er a pause! That which this living audience sees Thrilled all the dead to wild applause -- And yet the strange old drama draws. Not all alike adjudge the play: Some laugh, some weep, and some there be Deem the old classic's had its day, And some scarce any of it see, Nodding in witless apathy. And others more than all the rest One act out of the four prefer -- Spring, in her wind-flower draperies drest, Or Summer, with her bosom bare; Winter than these some deem more fair. Some, mayhap melancholic, deem Autumn the meaning of the play -- The smile that says, "'Twas all a dream!" The sigh that says, "I can but stay A little while, and then away;" The rustling robe of joy that ends, The moon-cold kiss upon the brow, The fading sail of sea-sped friends, The love that is another's now, The voice that mourns, "Ah! where art thou?" For all her purple and her gold, Autumn hath such a tale to tell -- The tale that tells us all is told; Yea! but she tells it wondrous well, Weaving strange hope into her spell: The hope that, when we sit no more At this old play, and needs must go Through yonder shrouded exit door, The mystic impresario Hath still for us a stranger show. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BRUCE AND THE SPIDER by BERNARD BARTON MY COMFORTER by EMILY JANE BRONTE THE PLOUGH; A LANDSCAPE IN BERKSHIRE by RICHARD HENGIST (HENRY) HORNE SUMMER MATURES by HELENE JOHNSON THE CASE OF EDGAR ABBOTT AND PHILIP RIDD by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS POLYHYMNIA: DEDICATION TO THE COUNTESS OF LINDSEY by WILLIAM BASSE FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: A LOFTY MIND by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |