The Fall of the Year.
Now flowers of deeper hue and scarlet glow ;1
Or in rich purple the white bosom lies ;2
And leopard-spots of blossom’s golden eyes3
On hill-sides green and sky-domed commons shew ;4
And the blue Heaven over her doth throw5
Her thinnest web of fair and lawny haze ;6
And suns retire from proud accustomed ways,7
At nearer tides of Night’s great overflow ;8
And green-flushed Earth in dreamy Autumn light9
A gilded change to many colours sees10
Through all her shrubby Janes and branching trees,11
Nor thinks the King whose banners hang so bright,12
Will break her leafy sceptre, and affright13
With stormy snows her vales and upland leas.14