Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

V. Cautions and Complaints

Affaire d’Amour

Margaret Deland (1857–1945)

ONE pale November day

Flying Summer paused,

They say:

And growing bolder,

O’er rosy shoulder

Threw her lover such a glance

That Autumn’s heart began to dance.

(O happy lover!)

A leafless peach-tree bold

Thought for him she smiled,

I ’m told;

And, stirred by love,

His sleeping sap did move,

Decking each naked branch with green

To show her that her look was seen!

(Alas, poor lover!)

But Summer, laughing, fled,

Nor knew he loved her!

’T is said

The peach-tree sighed,

And soon he gladly died:

And Autumn, weary of the chase

Came on at Winter’s sober pace

(O careless lover!)