How droops the troubled year <br />And now her tiny sunset stains the leaf. <br />A holy fear, <br />A rapt, elusive grief, <br />Make imminent the swift, exalting tear. <br />The long wind's weary sigh- <br />Knowest, O listener! for what it wakes? <br />Adown the sky <br />What star of Time forsakes <br />Her pinnacle? What dream and dreamer die? <br />A presence half-divine <br />Stands at the threshold, ready to depart <br />Without a sign. <br />Now seems the world's deep heart <br />About to break. What sorrow stirs in mine? <br />A mist of twilight rain <br />Hides now the orange edges of the day. <br />In vain, in vain <br />We labor that thou stay, <br />Beauty who wast, and shalt not be again!<br /><br />George Sterling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/autumn-128/
