Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/261

 AUTUMN SUNSHINE. sunshine went a-straying
 * One gracious harvest morn,

While autumn winds were playing
 * Among the yellow corn.

The reapers' necks and faces
 * She dyed deep berry-brown,

And draped in mystic graces
 * The smoky toiling town.

She kissed in sober sadness
 * The flowers too soon to fade,

And pierced in merry gladness
 * The orchard's bosky glade.

The leaves, before her shrinking,
 * Disclosed the apples green,

That blushed red-ripe for thinking
 * How idle they had been.

She dropped, in noon-day dreaming,
 * Her necklace in a pool,

And left the jewels gleaming
 * Amid its waters cool.

She climbed with motion queenly
 * The mountain's rugged breast,

And slept, brief space! serenely
 * Calm on its cloudy crest.