Autumn Poem
Autumn - Eliza Lee Follen (1787 - 1860)
Sweet summer, with her flowers, has past:
I hear her parting knell;
I hear the moaning, fitful blast,
Sighing a sad farewell.
But while she fades, and dies away,
In rainbow hues she glows;
Like the last smile of parting day,
Still brightening as she goes.
The robin whistles clear and shrill;
Sad is the cricket’s song;
The wind, wild, rushing o’er the hill,
Bears the dead leaf along.
I love this sober, solemn time,
This twilight of the year;
To me, sweet spring, in all her prime,
Was never half so dear.
(Found in a book of Eliza Lee (Cabot) Follen’s poems published in Boston, Mass. in 1839)
This poem was later adapted to a song in my grammar school music book under the title of “Summer Has Past.” My 5th grade teacher gave me a copy of the old book on the last day of school, as it was going to be discarded due to its dilapidated condition. I have treasured it to this day.
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