A reflection in Autumn


Now Autumn's come, adieu the pleasing greens, 

The charming landscape, and the flow'ry plain ! 

All have deserted from these motley scenes, 

With blighted yellow ting'd, and russet stain. 


Though desolation seems to triumph here. 
Yet this is Spring to what we still shall find : 
The trees must all in nakedness appear, 
'Reft of their foliage by the blustiy wind. 

Just so 'twill fare with me in Autumn's Life ; 
Just so I'd wish : but may the trunk and all 
Die with the leaves ; nor taste that wintry strife, 
When sorrows urge, and fear impedes the fall. 

from "Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery" (1920)