Parerga/Withered Leaves
< Parerga
WITHERED LEAVES.
Down from the lank elm trees
The crisping wrinkled leaves
Are fluttering in the breeze
Round the Cathedral eaves.
The crisping wrinkled leaves
Are fluttering in the breeze
Round the Cathedral eaves.
To the dead heaps below
With vainly eddying wing
Reluctantly they go,
Like souls to life that cling.
With vainly eddying wing
Reluctantly they go,
Like souls to life that cling.
But Autumn's morning sky
In fathomless gulfs of blue
Smiles freshly on the eye,
With loving, hoping hue.
In fathomless gulfs of blue
Smiles freshly on the eye,
With loving, hoping hue.
The season fitteth well
This place of rest to tread,
And bid the spirit dwell
On the time-sever'd dead.
This place of rest to tread,
And bid the spirit dwell
On the time-sever'd dead.
Yes, the departing year
Speaks both to frame and mind,
Its visible objects bear
A deeper truth behind.
Speaks both to frame and mind,
Its visible objects bear
A deeper truth behind.
The wither'd leaves beneath,
The bright blue sky above;
All that we know of death,
All that we hope of love.
The bright blue sky above;
All that we know of death,
All that we hope of love.