"Autumn" by Hunter Johnson, 15, of Benson, Oct. 18, 1921

Autumn

‘Tis autumn once again--

The lonely cricket’s chirp, the rain

That falls with the falling leaves,

And drips, and drips from the most-grown eaves.

At sunset each dying ray

Melts into gloom and somber gray;

And fade the russet bars,

And in their places the shining stars.

Anon a day dawns bright,

So silvery bright; but ere the night

A cloud of saffron hue

Has rolled from the east across the blue.

A funereal stillness broods

In all the meadows, fields and woods

No laughing zephyr is heard

Nor blithe, gay song of a summer bird.

Can time have flown so fast?

I ask: Soon autumn will be passed--

It seems but yesterday

That summer lived and laughed and was gay.

--By Hunter Johnson, Age 15, Benson, N.C., as printed in The Smithfield Herald, Oct. 18, 1921