This morning I ask only The blessing of the crayfish, The beautitude of the birds; To wear the skin of the bear In my songs; To work like a man with my hands.
—Joseph BruchacTwisting, turning through the air Till all the trees stand stark and bare. Exhausted, drop to earth below To wait, like children, for the snow.
—Elsie N. BradyPressed between yellow leaves of a book that has never been opened. And the way up is the way down, the way forward is the way back.
—T. S. EliotElections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.
—Abraham LincolnMornings crisp as carrot sticks With trees the tone of chimney-bricks; The sun sets, brilliant tangerine, As pumpkins grin for Halloween.
—Daniel WatersA dried leaf crumbles at a touch, But I have seen many Autumns With herons blowing like smoke Across the sky.
—Amy LowellEveryone of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal, pouring off every page like it was written in my soul from me to you.
—Bob DylanListen! The wind is rising, And the air is wild with leaves, We have had our summer evenings, Now for October eves!
—Humbert WolfeWhite-fingered star, a little, childish thing, The busy needle of her light to bring, And stitch, and stitch, upon the dead day’s shroud.
—E.E. CummingsThere is a harmony In autumn, and a lustre in its sky, Which through the summer is not heard or seen, As if it could not be, as if it had not been!
—Percy Bysshe ShelleyBy all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.
—Helen Hunt JacksonSo here’s an end of roaming On eves when autumn nighs: The ear too fondly listens For summer’s parting sighs, And then the heart replies.
—A.E. HousmanThe high horses of the sea broke their white riders On the walls that held and counted the hours The wind lasted.
—Carl SandburgI hear you call, pine tree, I hear you upon the hill, by the silent pond Where the lotus flowers bloom, I hear you call, pine tree.
—Yone NoguchiThe nectarine and curious peach Into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.
—Andrew MarvellAcross the lonely beach we flit, One little sandpiper and I, And fast I gather, bit by bit, The scattered drift-wood, bleached and dry.
—Celia ThaxterEternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.
—John MuirI thought of you and how you love this beauty, And walking up the long beach all alone I heard the waves breaking in measured thunder As you and I once heard their monotone.
—Sara TeasdaleA boat, beneath a sunny sky Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July – Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear.
—Lewis CarrollHere at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
—Emma Lazarus