I.—NOVEMBER.
Reading edition
The dead leaves their rich mosaics, Of olive and gold and brown, Had laid on the rain-wet pavements, Through all the embowered town.
They were washed by the Autumn tempest, They were trod by hurrying feet, And the maids came out with their besoms And swept them into the street,
To be crushed and lost forever 'Neath the wheels, in the black mire lost,— The Summer's precious darlings, She nurtured at such cost!
O words that have fallen from me! O golden thoughts and true! Must I see in the leaves a symbol Of the fate which awaiteth you?
II.—APRIL.
Again has come the Spring-time, With the crocus's golden bloom, With the smell of the fresh-turned earth-mould, And the violet's perfume.
O gardener! tell me the secret Of thy flowers so rare and sweet!— —"I have only enriched my garden With the black mire from the street."