after the fierce midsummer all ablaze

has burned itself to ashes, and expires

in the intensity of its own fires,

there come the mellow, mild, st. martin days,

crowned with the calm of peace, but sad with haze.

so after love has led us, till he tires

of his own throes and torments and desires,

comes large-eyed friendship: with a restful gaze

he beckons us to follow, and across

cool, verdant vales we wander free from care.

is it a touch of frost lies in the air?

why are we haunted with a sense of loss?

we do not wish the pain back, or the heat;

and yet, and yet, these days are incomplete.