October's Bright Blue Weather
-Helen Maria Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

     O suns and skies and clouds of June,  and flowers of June together,
     Ye cannot rival for one hour October's bright blue weather;

     When loud the bumblebee makes haste,  belated, thriftless vagrant,
     And goldenrod is dying fast, and lanes with grapes are fragrant;

     When gentians roll their fingers tight to save them for the morning,
     And chestnuts fall from satin burrs without a sound of warning;

     When on the ground red apples lie in piles like jewels shining,
     And redder still on old stone walls are leaves of woodbine twining;

     When all the lovely wayside things their white-winged seeds are sowing,
     And in the fields still green and fair, late aftermaths are growing;

     When springs run low, and on the brooks, in idle golden freighting,
     Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush of woods, for winter waiting;

     When comrades seek sweet country haunts, by twos and twos together,
     And count like misers, hour by hour, October's bright blue weather.

     O sun and skies and flowers of June, count all your boasts together,
     Love loveth best of all the year October's bright blue weather.