Helen Hunt Jackson

A Calendar of Sonnets: October

The month of carnival of all the year,
 When Nature lets the wild earth go its way
 And spend whole seasons on a single day.
 The spring-time holds her white and purple dear;
 October, lavish, flaunts them far and near;
 The summer charily her reds doth lay
 Like jewels on her costliest array;
 October, scornful, burns them on a bier.
 The winter hoards his pearls of frost in sign
 Of kingdom: whiter pearls than winter knew,
 Or Empress wore, in Egypt’s ancient line,
 October, feasting 'neath her dome of blue,
 Drinks at a single draught, slow filtered through
 Sunshiny air, as in a tingling wine!
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