Summer to Autumn / Glenn Ward Dresbach

Summer to Autumn 

My leaves of green you will turn to gold and crimson, 
My ripened fruits you will give their fullest hue, 
And my scattered birds will flock to you at parting — 
But all I give in turn will be taken from you. 

Your gold and crimson leaves will be banners fallen, 
Your flushed fruits will be scattered on the ground, 
And, at the last, the birds will hasten southward 
And leave you winds and many a lonely sound. 

We dream the dream and never reach completion 
Within ourselves, then pass in things we give . . . 
Always the void of winter wraps in silence 
Things that in spite of winter wait and live. 

~~
Glenn Ward Dresbach (1889-1968)
from In Colors of the West, 1922

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

Glenn Ward Dresbach biography

Purple / Glenn Ward Dresbach

Purple

Purple grapes hung in the purpling gloom.
Frail purple flowers swayed in the musky grass.
I caught a breath of passionate perfume,
And saw you pass
(A shadow in motion, a drifting purple hue)
And I reached out my arms and called to you —
Only to lose you in purpling shadows that between us came.
Nothing I heard but the autumn winds whispering your name.
Maddened I rushed to find you, to hold you in my caress,
But my open arms closed only on purple emptiness.
I called . . . No answer came.
Nothing I heard but the autumn winds whispering your name.

~~
Glenn Ward Dresbach (1889-1968)
from In the Paths of the Wind, 1917

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

Glenn Ward Dresbach biography