
The Child and the Autumn Rea, 
Samuel Lover. 
OWN by the river’s bank I stray’d 
Upon an Autumn day; 
Beside the fading forest there, 
I saw a child at play. 
She play’d among the yellow leaves— 
The leaves that once were green, 
And flung upon the passing stream 
What once had blooming been: 
Oh! deeply did it touch my heart 
To see that child at play ; 
It was the sweet, unconscious sport 
Of childhood with decay. 
Fair child, if by this stream thou stray 
When after-years go by, 
The scene that makes thy childhood’s sport 
May wake thy age’s sigh ; 



















