Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/190

 184 GOLD AND CRIMSON.

Making humble confession And late-learned concession, That Earth had been wise in her fear.

��GOLD AND CRIMSON.

SWEET September idleness ! O castle-wall in Spain ! O leaves of gold and crimson,

Wet with November rain ! How many days have come and gone

Since you, and I, and Fate,

Despatched two tiny ventures out

With only Hope for freight?

Two maple leaves one forest-gold,

And one the sunset red We flung upon the valley-stream,

And watched them as they sped. Close to the shore they fluttered down,

Each pretty Dryad boat, Made mystical by rite and spell-

Your life and mine afloat.

Amid the shadows for a while

They glided still and slow, Until a current s rippled edge

Caught them and bid them go. The golden craft stole silently

Around the island shore,

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