With a sweeter voice than birds <br />Dare to twitter in their sleep, <br />Pipe for me a tune of words, <br />Till my dancing fancies leap <br />Into freedom vaster far <br />Than the realms of Reason are! <br />Sing for me with wilder fire <br />Than the lover ever sung, <br />From the time he twanged the lyre <br />When the world was baby-young. <br /> <br />O my maiden Autumn, you-- <br />You have filled me through and through <br />With a passion so intense, <br />All of earthly eloquence <br />Fails, and falls, and swoons away <br />In your presence. Like as one <br />Who essays to look the sun <br />Fairly in the face, I say, <br />Though my eyes you dazzle blind <br />Greater dazzled is my mind. <br />So, my Autumn, let me kneel <br />At your feet and worship you! <br />Be my sweetheart; let me feel <br />Your caress; and tell me too <br />Why your smiles bewilder me-- <br />Glancing into laughter, then <br />Trancing into calm again, <br />Till your meaning drowning lies <br />In the dim depths of your eyes. <br />Let me see the things you see <br />Down the depths of mystery! <br />Blow aside the hazy veil <br />From the daylight of your face <br />With the fragrance-ladened gale <br />Of your spicy breath and chase <br />Every dimple to its place. <br />Lift your gipsy finger-tips <br />To the roses of your lips, <br />And fling down to me a bud-- <br />But an unblown kiss--but one-- <br />It shall blossom in my blood, <br />Even after life is done-- <br />When I dare to touch the brow <br />Your rare hair is veiling now-- <br />When the rich, red-golden strands <br />Of the treasure in my hands <br />Shall be all of worldly worth <br />Heaven lifted from the earth, <br />Like a banner to have set <br />On its highest minaret.<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-autumnal-extravaganza/
