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ON AND ON.
- By long leagues of wood and meadow
- On and on we drive apace;
- In the dreamy light and shadow
- Veiling earth’s autumnal face.
- Rosy clouds are drifting o’er us,
- Rooks rise parleying from their tryst,
- And the road lies far before us,
- Fading into amethyst.
- On and on, through leagues of heather,
- Deeps of scarlet beaded lane,
- Like a pheasant’s golden feather
- Golden leaves around us rain.
- On and on, where woodlands hoary,
- In October’s lavish fire,
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- Flame up with unearthly glory,
- Beauteous summer’s funeral pyre.
- On and on, where casements blinking
- Lighten into transient gules,
- As the dying day in sinking
- Splashes all the wayside pools.
- On and on; the land grows dimmer,
- And our road recedes afar;
- While on either hand there glimmer
- Setting sun and rising star.
- Would I knew what thoughts steal o’er you,
- As the long road lengthens yet:
- Ah, like hope it winds before you,
- And behind me like regret.
