Agnes Lee

I WAS a goddess ere the marble found me.

Wind, wind, delay not!

Waft my spirit where the laurel crowned me!

Will the wind stay not?

Then tarry, tarry, listen, little swallow!

An old glory feeds me—

I lay upon the bosom of Apollo!

Not a bird heeds me.

For here the days are alien. Oh, to waken

Mine, mine, with calling!

But on my shoulders bare, like hopes forsaken,

The dead leaves are falling.

The sky is gray and full of unshed weeping

As dim down the garden

I wait and watch the early autumn sweeping.

The stalks fade and harden.

The souls of all the flowers afar have rallied.

The trees, gaunt, appalling,

Attest the gloom, and on my shoulders pallid

The dead leaves are falling.