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244
IN THE DEFENCES.
Down valleys blue with fringy aster-bloom,—
An atmosphere of safety and repose.
An atmosphere of safety and repose.
Against the sunset lie the darkening hills,
Mushroomed with tents, the sudden growth of war;
The frosty autumn air, that blights and chills,
Yet brings its own full recompense therefor;
Mushroomed with tents, the sudden growth of war;
The frosty autumn air, that blights and chills,
Yet brings its own full recompense therefor;
Rich colors light the leafy solitudes,
And far and near the gazer's eyes behold
The oak's deep scarlet, warming all the woods,
And spendthrift maples scattering their gold.
And far and near the gazer's eyes behold
The oak's deep scarlet, warming all the woods,
And spendthrift maples scattering their gold.
The pale beech shivers with prophetic woe,
The towering chestnut ranks stand blanched and thinned,
Yet still the fearless sumac dares the foe,
And waves its bloody guidons in the wind.
The towering chestnut ranks stand blanched and thinned,
Yet still the fearless sumac dares the foe,
And waves its bloody guidons in the wind.
Where mellow haze the hill's sharp outline dims,
Bare elms, like sentinels, watch silently,
The delicate tracery of their slender limbs
Pencilled in purple on the saffron sky.
Bare elms, like sentinels, watch silently,
The delicate tracery of their slender limbs
Pencilled in purple on the saffron sky.
