The Death of Autumn

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Death of Autumn was published in Millay's poetry collection, Second April (1921).


     When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,
     And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind
     Like aged warriors westward, tragic, thinned
     Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes,
     Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,
     Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek,—
     Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes
     My heart.  I know that Beauty must ail and die,
     And will be born again,—but ah, to see
     Beauty stiffened, staring up at the sky!
     Oh, Autumn!  Autumn!—What is the Spring to me?

The Death of Autumn was featured as The Short Story of the Day on Wed, Oct 13, 2021

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