NOËRA

Noëra, when sad Fall

Has grayed the fallow;

Leaf-cramped the wood-brook's brawl

In pool and shallow;

When, by the woodside, tall

Stands sere the mallow.

Noëra, when gray gold

And golden gray

The crackling hollows fold

By every way,

Shall I thy face behold,

Dear bit of May?

When webs are cribs for dew,

And gossamers

Streak by you, silver-blue;

When silence stirs

One leaf, of rusty hue,

Among the burrs:

Noëra, through the wood,

Or through the grain,

Come, with the hoiden mood

Of wind and rain

Fresh in thy sunny blood,

Sweetheart, again.

Noëra, when the corn,

Reaped on the fields,

The asters’ stars adorn;

And purple shields

Of ironweeds lie torn

Among the wealds:

Noëra, haply then,

Thou being with me,

Each ruined greenwood glen

Will bud and be

Spring's with the spring again,

The spring in thee.

Thou of the breezy tread;

Feet of the breeze:

Thou of the sunbeam head;

Heart like a bee's:

Face like a woodland-bred

Anemone's.

Thou to October bring

An April part!

Come! make the wild birds sing,

The blossoms start!

Noëra, with the spring

Wild in thy heart!

Come with our golden year:

Come as its gold:

With the same laughing, clear,

Loved voice of old:

In thy cool hair one dear

Wild marigold.