Ernest Christopher Dowson

Autumnal

Pale amber sunlight falls across
    The reddening October trees,
    That hardly sway before a breeze
As soft as summer: summer's loss
    Seems little, dear! on days like these.

Let misty autumn be our part!
    The twilight of the year is sweet:
    Where shadow and the darkness meet
Our love, a twilight of the heart
    Eludes a little time's deceit.

Are we not better and at home
    In dreamful Autumn, we who deem
    No harvest joy is worth a dream?
A little while and night shall come,
    A little while, then, let us dream.

Beyond the pearled horizons lie
    Winter and night: awaiting these
    We garner this poor hour of ease,
Until love turn from us and die
    Beneath the drear November trees.