Autumn Even-Song.
The long cloud edged with streaming gray,1
Soars from the west ;2
The red leaf mounts with it away,3
Showing the nest4
A blot among the branches bare :5
There is a cry of outcasts in the air.6
Swift little breezes, darting chill,7
Pant down the lake ;8
A crow flies from the yellow hill,9
And in its wake10
A baffled line of labouring rooks :11
A purple bow the shadowless river looks.12
Pale on the panes of the old hall13
Gleams the lone space14
Between the sunset and the squall ;15
And on its face16
Mournfully glimmers to the last :17
Great oaks grow mighty minstrels in the blast.18
Pale the rain-rutted roadways shine19
In the green light20
Behind the cedar and the pine :21
Come, thundering night !22
Blacken broad earth with hoards of storm :23
For me yon valley-cottage beckons warm.24