"We Shall be Changed" Author of "John Halifax" 80

THE EVERGREEN.

S

AUTUMN.

EASON of mist and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom friend of the maturing sun,

Conspiring with him how to load and bless,

With fruit the vines that round the thatch eaves run; To bend with apples the mossed cottage trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness in the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer hath o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amidst thy store!
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find

Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,

Thy hair soft lifted by the winnowing wind;