Classic Poem

The wizard has woven his ancient scheme;
A day and a starlit night;
And the world is a shadowy-pencilled dream
Of colour, haze, and light.

Like something an angel wrought, maybe,
To answer a fairy's whim,
A fold of an ancient tapestry,
A phantom rare and dim.

Silent and smooth as the crystal stone
The river lies serene,
And the fading hills are a jewelled throne
For the Fall and the Mist, his Queen.

Slim as out of aerial seas,
The elms and poplars fair
Float like the dainty spirits of trees
In the mellow dreamlike air.

Silvery-soft by the forest side—
Wine-red, yellow, rose—
The wizard of Autumn, faint, blue-eyed—
Swinging his censer, goes.