October

From The Birmingham Age Herald, October 6, 1914. By Folger McKinsey.

A poem in the wind,
    A song in the sea;
A dream in the sun,
    A hymn on the lea;
A bird in the sky,
    A laugh in the morn;
A heaven nearby
    And the gold in the corn.

A wine in the blood,
    A fire in the heart;
A will in the soul
    To be doing one’s part;
A place in the world
    For the effort and zeal
That ring with the joy
    Of the righteous and real.

A dawn in the vale,
    A flame on the steep;
A fire in the maple,
    A mist on the deep;
A lilt and a lyric,
    A shout and a word;
A streak of red wine
    On the breast of a bird.