October's Bright Blue Weather

          O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
          And flowers of June together,
          Ye cannot rival for one hour
          October's bright blue weather;

          When loud the bumblebee makes haste,
          Belated, thriftless vagrant,
          And goldenrod is dying fast,
          And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

          When gentians roll their fingers tight
          To save them for the morning,
          And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
          Without a sound of warning;

          When on the ground red apples lie
          In piles like jewels shining,
          And redder still on old stone walls
          Are leaves of woodbine twining;

          When all the lovely wayside things
          Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
          And in the fields still green and fair,
          Late aftermaths are growing;

          When springs run low, and on the brooks,
          In idle golden freighting,
          Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
          Of woods, for winter waiting;

          When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
          By twos and twos together,
          And count like misers, hour by hour,
          October's bright blue weather.

          O sun and skies and flowers of June,
          Count all your boasts together,
          Love loveth best of all the year
          October's bright blue weather.

               Helen Hunt Jackson