The Fall of the Leaf / Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The Fall of the Leaf

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the heart feels a languid grief
     Laid on it for a covering,
     And how sleep seems a goodly thing
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

And how the spirit gripes misfortune
At the fall of the leaf in Autumn,
     As one that makes the ? end more brief,
     And how the mind with the falling leaf
Falls, till its births are mere abortion?

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the clogged sense, coiled up & stiff
     At feel of summer's vanishing perishing,
     Dares not pass winter to reach Spring
In Autumn at the fall of the leaf?

And how the swift heat of the brain
     Hateth because it is in vain
     In Autumn at the fall of the leaf,
     Knowest thou not? & how the chief
Of joys seems not to have much pain.

Know'st thou not at the fall of the leaf
How the soul feels as a dried sheaf
     Bound up at length for harvesting,
     And how death seems a comely thing
In autumn at the fall of the leaf?

~~

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

1848

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Dante Gabriel Rossetti biography