Aarestrup and October

In clear October moonlight all lies freezing

In clear October moonlight all lies freezing;

            The closely tended summer flowers hang wilted,

            And e’en the dahlias, those reddest quilted,

In night-wind’s wild embrace swoon without ceasing.

The clouds, forever grey, the skies are plying;

            Each song bird’s silent, forest branch deserted,

            To ice the breaking waves are soon converted,

And but the owl’s hoarse call mocks nature’s dying.

Farewell must now be bid all she’s once chosen,

            The lovely, bright and gay — that neither frozen

            Nor moaning in harsh winter would expire —

Farewell! Farewell! No wonder the desire

            Of beauteous things, in ice-cold polar nighttime,

            Is like the heliotrope to turn to sunshine.