In October / Bliss Carman

In October

Now come the rosy dogwoods,
    The golden tulip-tree,
And the scarlet yellow maple,
    To make a day for me.

The ash-trees on the ridges,
    The alders in the swamp,
Put on their red and purple
    To join the autumn pomp.

The woodbine hangs her crimson
    Along the pasture wall,
And all the bannered sumacs
    Have heard the frosty call.

Who then so dead to valor
    As not to raise a cheer,
When all the woods are marching
    In triumph of the year?

~~
Bliss Carman (1861-1929)
from Later Poems, 1926

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada and the European Union]

Bliss Carman biography