THE LOOM OF AUTUMN 1 87 



Nature, opens his door, and shading 

 his tired eyes, looks for green fields. 



Summer has an ampler mien; full- 

 lipped is she, with , red-gold hair, 

 crowned with roses, and a generous 

 body. Restful and satisfied she sits 

 in the sun's rays, fanned by her spouse, 

 the South Wind, and weaves the heavy 

 damask robe of matronhood, dense with 

 sweet odours, rich-hued and opulent, 

 such as befits the benignant Earth to 

 wear when, with her arms piled high 

 with ripened sheaves, she gives her 

 children bread. 



Autumn, the wayward daughter, steals 

 all her sisters' moods; wedded to the 

 East Wind she scoffs him, and lures the 

 South and the West by turns. She is 

 under spell always to toil to finish the 

 work of others; to shake the nut and 

 mellow apple down, and bear the sweet- 

 skinned grape to the wine-press, but to 



