PAIRY OF EARLY FALL.

PAIRY OF EARLY FALL.
549.1

If on the path without a word of warning.
A web of laces, with silver meshes hoary,
And sparks of fire, lles any shining morning,
What fairy, you will ask, has wrought this glory

Is that the old elm tossing like a fountain
Its golden shower against the blue heaven?
Is that the forest stretching up the mountain,
Or some great, rainbow with the colors reven?

the cedar,
Is that, indeed, the very witch of En- dor
And has there been no eye at all to heed her,
Turning the dogwood’s poison into splendor?

Whose are the dripping fingers that have done it-
Painted the maple leaf a scarlet wonder?

Who pinched the plum and breathed the bloom upon it.
And burst the chestnut’s chrysalis asunder?
Who is it, wrapped in violet veils and gauzes,
To see this world that late was an 20 sober.
In midmost of her magle turns and pauses?
I think the fairy’s name must be October.
-Harriet Prescott Spofford,