Autumn by the Sea
John Galsworthy

We'll hear the murmur of the swell,
And touch the driftwood, grey,
And with our quickened senses smell
The sea-flowers all the day.

We'll watch the hills, the pastures brown,
The trees of changing hue,
Till evening's ice comes stealing down
From those high fields of blue.

And far the crimson sun-god sails
Away in sunset cloak;
And gentle heat's gold pathway fails
In autumn's opal smoke.

And then we'll watch the bright half-moon—
Slow-spinning in the sky,
And trace the dark flight—all too soon—
Of land-birds wheeling by.

Through all the night of stars we'll touch
The quietude of things,
And gain brief freedom from the clutch
Of life's encompassings.

The Secret Joy
Mary Webb

Face to face with the sunflower,
Cheek to cheek with the rose,
We follow a secret highway
Hardly a traveller knows.
The gold that lies in the folded bloom
Is all our wealth;
We eat of the heart of the forest
With innocent stealth.
We know the ancient roads
in the leaf of a nettle,
And bathe in the blue profound
Of a speedwell petal.

Distant View of the Ching Mountains
Chiang Yen

On the cold frontier no shadow to be seen
The autumn sun lets fall a pale radiance
A mournful wind dishevels the thick forests
The clouds are red, the river rising cold.

'The autumn sun lets fall a pale radiance.'
Wang Wei

The great void, the cool sky is calm
Crystal brilliance, the white sun is autumn
The round light contains all things
And its broken image enters the quiet stream
Far up and uniting with the blue depths
Away and down floating with the river plain
The shades at noon make all the trees distinct
The slanting light falls on the high houses
Sung u climbed up and resented it
Chang Heng looked into the distance and grieved
But if that last glow can be trusted
Will those paths in the clouds be sad, sad?