Classic Poem

'Neath naked boughs, and sitting in the sun,
With idle hands, because her work is done,
I mark how smiles the lovely, fading year,
Crowned with Chrysanthemums and berries bright,
And in her eyes the shimmer of a tear.

Faint are the days, and soft the tender light;
Brave are her Oaks, and brave her Evergreens;
And brave the birds that whisper a spring song
Before they leave, with half-reluctant flight,
The summer nests that will be filled erelong —

The summer nests that will be filled erelong
With summer's wreck, the scared and hunted leaves;
When the winds pipe a rally and their prey
Tremble in fence-rows, or are swept away
And whirled across the lawn in dizzy flight.

Tho' ancient Winter shiver at the door,
There is a promise folded out of sight
In every bud upon the bending brier
Of that sweet time, most dear to my desire,
When summer and my friend shall come once more.