An Autumnal Extravaganza

With a sweeter voice than birds         Dare to twitter in their sleep,     Pipe for me a tune of words,         Till my dancing fancies leap     Into freedom vaster far     Than the realms of Reason are!     Sing for me with wilder fire         Than the lover ever sung,     From the time he twanged the lyre         When the world was baby-young.     O my maiden Autumn, you -     You have filled me through and through     With a passion so intense,     All of earthly eloquence         Fails, and falls, and swoons away     In your presence.    Like as one     Who essays to look the sun         Fairly in the face, I say,     Though my eyes you dazzle blind     Greater dazzled is my mind.     So, my Autumn, let me kneel         At your feet and worship you!     Be my sweetheart; let me feel     Your caress; and tell me too     Why your smiles bewilder me -     Glancing into laughter, then     Trancing into calm again,     Till your meaning drowning lies     In the dim depths of your eyes.     Let me see the things you see     Down the depths of mystery!     Blow aside the hazy veil         From the daylight of your face     With the fragrance-ladened gale         Of your spicy breath and chase         Every dimple to its place.     Lift your gipsy finger-tips     To the roses of your lips,     And fling down to me a bud -         But an unblown kiss - but one -     It shall blossom in my blood,         Even after life is done -     When I dare to touch the brow     Your rare hair is veiling now -     When the rich, red-golden strands     Of the treasure in my hands     Shall be all of worldly worth     Heaven lifted from the earth,     Like a banner to have set     On its highest minaret.