The Old Surprise

NOW what hath entered my loved woods,
And touched their green with sudden change ?
What is this last of Nature’s moods
That makes the roadside look so strange ?

Who blanched my thistle’s blushing face,
And gave the winds her silver hair?
Set golden-rod within her place,
And scattered asters everywhere ?

Who splashed with red the sumach hedge,—
The sassafras with purple stain ;
Gave ivy-leaves a ruby edge,
And painted all their stems again ?

Lo ! the change reaches high and wide,
Hath toned the sky to softer blue ;
Hath crept along the river-side,
And trod the valleys through and through ;

Discolored every hazel copse,
And stricken all the pasture lands ;
Flung veils across the mountain-tops,
And bound their feet with yellow bands.

Is, then, September come so soon ?
Full time doth summer ne’er abide?
While yet it seems but summer’s noon,
We ’re floating down the autumn tide.