Scarcely a tear to shed

Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt.

Winds and waters keep A hush more dead than any sleep.

No funeral gloom, my dears, when I am gone, corpse-gazing, tears, black raiment, graveyard grimness. Think of me as withdrawn into the dimness, yours still, you mine. Remember all the best of our past moments, and forget the rest;

Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren't go a-hunting, For fear of little men.

Out of the city, far away With spring to-day! Where copses tufted with primrose Give me repose, Wood-sorrel and wild violet Soothe my soul's fret.

Autumn's the mellow time.