Metrical tales, and other poems; - Electric Scotland

AN AUTUMN LAY. 199
AN AUTUMN LAY.
[HE leaves are dying on the trees,
Or falling in the autumn breeze,
The fields are shorn of fruit
The feathered tenants of the groves,
Which made them lyric vfith their loves,
Are parted now, or mute.
They go in other lands to sing
The glories of another spring.
Another summer's praise
To build their feathered homes anew,
'Neath milder skies of brighter blue,
And suns of warmer blaze.
The powdered snows will soon descend.
The leafless forest boughs to bend.
And robe the world in white
The clouds will drive along the skies.
The howling winter winds arise,
And riot in their might.
The brooks, their tuneful voices lost.
Encircled in the arms of frost,
"Will pause in icy sleep
The rivers under winter's reign
Will bear their tribute to the main
With melancholy sweep.
But yet it is not Nature's plan
That all shall then be gloom to man
Across the frozen lake,
Behold the hardy skaters bound,
Whilst Echo to the shores around
Eepeats the mirth they make.