The Turning of the Leafe / Edith M. Thomas

The Turning of the Leafe

        O happy leafe
(I to the vernal bud did say),
        Thou hast no griefe,
Kissed by the loving sunne in May.

        Me envy not
            (The leafe replied),
        As sweet thy lot
            All summertide.

        O piteous leafe
(I to wild autumn's waife did say), 

        Thy pride how briefe,
How soone the frost and wind make way.

        Me pity not
            (The leafe replied),
        As vexed thy lot,
            As briefe thy pride.

~~

Edith M. Thomas

from Through the Year with the poets, 1885

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

Edith M. Thomas biography

Titus Tscharntke, Autumn Leaf on Road, 2013. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.