I hear thy solemn anthem fall, <br />O richest song, upon my ear, <br />That clothes thee in thy golden pall, <br />As this wide sun flows on the mere. <br /> <br />Away - 'tis Autumn in the land, <br />Though Summer decks the green pine's bough, <br />Its spires are plucked by thy white hand, - <br />I see thee standing by me now. <br /> <br />I dress thee in the withered leaves, <br />Like forests when their day is done, <br />I bear thee as the wain its sheaves, <br />Which crisply rustle in the sun. <br /> <br />A thousand flowers enchant the gale <br />With perfume sweet as love's first kiss, <br />And odors in the landscape sail, <br />And charm the sense with sudden bliss. <br /> <br />But Fate, who metes a different way <br />To me, since I was falsely sold, <br />Hath gray-haired turned the sunny day, <br />Bent its high form, and made it old. <br /> <br />Come Time, come Death, and blot my doom <br />With feller woes, if they be thine; <br />Clang back thy gates, sepulchral tomb, <br />And match thy barrenness with mine. <br /> <br />O moaning wind along the shore, <br />How faint thy sobbing accents come! <br />Strike on my heart with maddest roar, <br />Thou meet'st no discord in this home. <br /> <br />Sear, blistering sun, these temple veins; <br />Blind, icy moon, these coldest eyes; <br />And drench me through, ye winter rains, - <br />Swell, if ye can, my miseries. <br /> <br />Those dark deep orbs are meeting mine, <br />That white hand presses on my brow, <br />That soft, sweet smile I know, 'tis thine, - <br />I see thee standing by me now.<br /><br />William Ellery Channing<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/memory-130/
