An Autumn Picture poem – Alfred Austin

Now round red roofs stand russet stacks arow:

Homeward from gleaning in the stubbly wheat,

High overhead the harsh rook saileth slow,

And cupless acorns crackle ‘neath your feet.

No breeze, no breath, veereth the oasthouse hoods,

Whence the faint smoke floats fragrantly away;

And, in the distance, the half-hazy woods

Glow with the barren glory of decay.

Vainly the bramble strives to drape the hedge,

Whose leafless gaps show many an empty nest:

The chill pool stagnates round the seeded sedge;

And, as the sunset saddens in the west,

Funereal mist comes creeping down the dale,

And widowed Autumn weeps behind her veil.