Classic and Contemporary Poetry
OCTOBER IN INDIANA, by JOHN ROBERT MOORE First Line: Not the brown oakleaf, nor the sumach's red Last Line: To read old stories by the winter's fire. Subject(s): Indiana; October | ||||||||
Not the brown oakleaf, nor the sumach's red, Nor bursting shell of nut, nor fallen fruit, Nor rivulet low-sunken in its bed Foretell alone thy passing. Winds long mute In reddening sunset and by misty night, And far-off twitterings of birds in flight, Dirge the long autumn, and again lament The coming winter and the waning light. Not the red squirrel in his secret haunt Can store thy tithe of bounty, nor the bee That filled warm afternoons with drowsy chaunt And bore beneath his wings thy husbandry, Nor husker bending o'er the yellow grain, Nor the lone toiler in the apple wain Who plucks the ripened fruit from topmost limbs And ever seeks the topmost bough in vain. Aloft amid the trees the branches high Are set aquiver by the passing gust, And fiery streamers of the autumn sky Drift circling slowly downward to the dust. Along the level sward of fallen leaves The lengthening shadow with the sunshine weaves, Until across the field the rising moon Looks on the tented city of the sheaves. Thy leaves are falling, but thou shalt not die, Thou seed-time for the harvest of a year. The grain thou gavest 'neath a warmer sky Will burgeon into root and stalk and ear; And thy dead timbers flame to mast and spire Upon the hearth where youth speaks love's desire, Or elders look into each other's eyes To read old stories by the winter's fire. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FACING INTO IT; FOR LARRY LEVIS by ELEANOR WILNER A VAGABOND SONG by BLISS CARMAN THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: OCTOBER by EDMUND SPENSER LATE AUTUMN by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM OCTOBER by MARIE DAVIES WARREN BECKNER OCTOER WOODS by EMMA INGOLD BOST NORTH WIND IN OCTOBER by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES THE JAIN BIRD HOSPITAL IN DELHI by WILLIAM MEREDITH ONE OF THE LEAST OF THESE, MY LITTLE ONE' by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON |
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