Autumn, The
Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them --
The summer flowers depart --
Sit still -- as all transformd to stone,
Except your musi.
How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beh the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall.
Oh! like that wind, is all the mirth
That flesh and dust impart:
We ot bear its visitings,
When ge is on the heart.
Gay words as may make us smile,
When Sorrow is asleep;
But other things must make us smile,
When Sorrow bids us weep!
The dearest hands that clasp our hands, --
Their presence may be oer;
The dearest voice that meets our ear,
That tone may e no more!
Youth fades; and then, the joys of youth,
Whice refreshd our mind,
Shall e -- as, on those sighing woods,
The chilling autumn wind.
Hear not the wind -- view not the woods;
Look out oer vale and hill-
In spring, the sky encircled them --
The sky is round them still.
e autumns scathe -- e winters cold --
e ge -- and human fate!
Whatever prospect Heaven doth bound,
eer be desolate.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning