Autumn Poem

The pumpkin’s lookin’ yellow,
And the buckwheat’s in the shock,
The blackbirds float across the sky
An hundred in a flock;
The clover fields are turnin’ gray,
The trees seem brown and sere,
The summertime is dyin’
And the winter’s creepin’ near;
Across the sea our soldier boys
Are fightin’ brave and bold–
I’m prayin God will shield them from the cold.

The black squirrel’s skippin’ round the tree,
And storin’ up his food,
The sky is lookin’ checkered
And reflects a stormy mood;
The muskrat’s buildin’ high and dry,
A thick-walled winter nest,
And the sun is droppin’ early
‘Neath the snowclouds of the west;
And over there our bravest boys
Are winnin what they’ll hold–
I’m prayin God will shield them from the cold.

The coon is stealin’ all the corn
To fill his hollow log,
The wild goose honks across the sky,
Before the frosty fog;
A snowflake’s fallin here and there,
The wind is blowin chill,
And the angry winter’s comin’
To frost the plain and hill;
The Pride of Canada is there,
The white sheep of the fold–
I’m prayin’ God will shield them from the cold.

Canada First and other poems by James A. Ross, 1920.