The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar/Merry Autumn

by Paul Laurence Dunbar

For other versions of this work, see Merry Autumn.

MERRY AUTUMN

It's all a farce,—these tales they tell
  About the breezes sighing,
And moans astir o'er field and dell,
  Because the year is dying.

Such principles are most absurd,—
  I care not who first taught 'em;
There's nothing known to beast or bird
  To make a solemn autumn.

In solemn times, when grief holds sway
  With countenance distressing,
You'll note the more of black and gray
  Will then be used in dressing.

Now purple tints are all around;
  The sky is blue and mellow;
And e'en the grasses turn the ground
  From modest green to yellow.

The seed burrs all with laughter crack
  On featherweed and jimson;
And leaves that should be dressed in black
  Are all decked out in crimson.

A butterfly goes winging by;
  A singing bird comes after;
And Nature, all from earth to sky,
  Is bubbling o'er with laughter.

The ripples wimple on the rills,
  Like sparkling little lasses;
The sunlight runs along the hills,
  And laughs among the grasses.

The earth is just so full of fun
  It really can't contain it;
And streams of mirth so freely run
  The heavens seem to rain it.

Don't talk to me of solemn days
  In autumn's time of splendor,
Because the sun shows fewer rays,
  And these grow slant and slender.

Why, it's the climax of the year,—
  The highest time of living!—
Till naturally its bursting cheer
  Just melts into thanksgiving.