The Sadness of Autumn

The leaves are falling, one by one,

Like tears from eyes that never weep;

The wind is sighing, low and lone,

Like some lost soul that cannot sleep.

The sky is gray, the air is chill,

The birds have flown to warmer lands;

The flowers are dead, the fields are still,

And all the world is sad and bland.

I think of all the happy days

That once were mine, and now are gone;

Of all the hopes and dreams that blazed,

And then were quenched in tears and wrong.

I think of all the loved ones gone,

Whose voices I shall hear no more;

And my heart is filled with sadness lone,

Like the wind that sighs above the shore.

O Autumn, thou art sad and drear,

But thou art beautiful to me;

For thou hast taught me how to fear

The joys that pass, the hopes that flee.

Thou hast taught me how to live each day

As if it were my last; to take

The good and leave the ill, and pray

That God will grant me peace at last.

So, Autumn, I will welcome thee,

Though thou art sad and drear to me;

For thou hast taught me how to be

Content with what I have, and free.