<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">An Autumn Sunset </span></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">I</p><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Leaguered in fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The wild black promontories of the coast extend</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Their savage silhouettes;</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The sun in universal carnage sets,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">And, halting higher,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The motionless storm-clouds mass their sullen threats,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Like an advancing mob in sword-points penned,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">That, balked, yet stands at bay.</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Mid-zenith hangs the fascinated day</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">In wind-lustrated hollows crystalline,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">A wan Valkyrie whose wide pinions shine</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Across the ensanguined ruins of the fray,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">And in her hand swings high o’erhead,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Above the waster of war,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The silver torch-light of the evening star</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Wherewith to search the faces of the dead.</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class=""> II</div><p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class=""> </p><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Lagooned in gold,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Seem not those jetty promontories rather</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The outposts of some ancient land forlorn,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Uncomforted of morn,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Where old oblivions gather,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The melancholy unconsoling fold</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Of all things that go utterly to death</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">And mix no more, no more</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">With life’s perpetually awakening breath?</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Shall Time not ferry me to such a shore,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Over such sailless seas,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">To walk with hope’s slain importunities</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">In miserable marriage? Nay, shall not</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">All things be there forgot,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Save the sea’s golden barrier and the black</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Close-crouching promontories?</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Dead to all shames, forgotten of all glories,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Shall I not wander there, a shadow’s shade,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">A spectre self-destroyed,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">So purged of all remembrance and sucked back</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Into the primal void,</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">That should we on the shore phantasmal meet</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">I should not know the coming of your feet?</div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 22px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Edith Wharton</div></div></body></html>