Stanzas Written in October

The leaves are falling all around — Reluctant, waveringly they fall; The river has a moaning sound, The redbreast's notes are low and small.

With boding croak and flagging wing, The rook sails slowly o'er the lea; Time's annual shades are gathering, And winter's coming step I see.

Each falling leaf's a moral page; Time's myriads thus are trodden low; Each season of our pilgrimage Has voices warning as we go.

We hear, but heed not, nature's knell; We see, but mark not, time's decay; We cling to pleasure's flowery spell, Till every leaf has dropped away.