HARMONY IN GOLD 



jNDER a northern wind that brought faint 

 hazes tinctured by the October sun, I 

 stood upon high ground and looked down 

 over a river and wide plains that extended 

 round about. Here, spread amply forth, was the 

 harmonious spectacle of the year's work done ; from 

 this lofty standpoint, where, above old Roman trenches, 

 blue fir mingled with wind-swept beech and oak, there 

 subtended the pageant of ripe Autumn ; and the sun, 

 alternately hidden and revealed at each departure of 

 the clouds, touched some new secret into a flaming 

 word at every flash, where his radiance fell in golden 

 lakes upon water and woodland, outspread meadow 

 and fallow, valley and heath. 



To my feet the dead heather rippled all russet ; 

 but a glory of pale gold and red-gold fretted the dead 

 ling, and leapt to welcome each sun-gleam, where the 

 brake-fern shone for miles. The lesser gorse also 

 blossomed with pure, deep yellow flowers above its 

 ripening pods ; while the dodder's scarlet thread 

 wound into the vesture of the waste, and briars 

 lightened it with ruby and crimson. 



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