The summer gold is warm, The days stretch long, With a whispering air of goodbyes, The fall arrives with a sigh.

The children run to catch the sun, As he begins to hide, And the green fades slowly, Like laughter carried away.

Yet the leaves fall, fallen, To lay on the tender earth And dreams weave beneath, Into the soft embrace of autumn, And wonder waits yet again, In the heart of the earth.

• Carl Sandburg