Page:Southern Life in Southern Literature.djvu/479

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WALTER MALONE

[Walter Malone was born in De Soto County, Mississippi, in 1 866. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, he began the practice of law, in which he was very successful. In 1905 he was appointed judge. His home was in Memphis, Tennessee, with the exception of the years from 1897 to 1900. during which he was engaged in literary pursuits in New York City. He published several volumes of poetry, most of the earlier volumes being published in 1904 in a collective edition entitled "Poems." He died in Memphis in 1915.]

OCTOBER IN TENNESSEE

Far, far away, beyond the hazy height, The turquois skies are hung in dreamy sleep; Below, the fields of cotton, fleecy-white, Are spreading like a mighty flock of sheep. Now, like Aladdin of the days of old, October robes the weeds in purple gowns; He sprinkles all the sterile fields with gold. And all the rustic trees wear royal crowns. The straggling fences all are interlaced With pink and azure morning-glory blooms, The starry asters glorify the waste, While grasses stand on guard with pikes and plumes. Yet still amid the splendor of decay The chill winds call for blossoms that are dead, The cricket chirps for sunshine passed away, And lovely summer songsters that have fled. And lonesome in a haunt of withered vines, Amid the flutter of her withered leaves, Pale Summer for her perished kingdom pines, And all the glories of her golden sheaves.