Indian Summer (Henry van Dyke), Dolce far niente

Dolce far niente

 

 
Indian Summer door Régis François Gignoux, circa 1860–1862

 

Indian Summer

A soft veil dims the tender skies,
And half conceals from pensive eyes
The bronzing tokens of the fall;
A calmness broods upon the hills,
And summer’s parting dream distills
A charm of silence over all.

The stacks of corn, in brown array,
Stand waiting through the placid day,
Like tattered wigwams on the plain;
The tribes that find a shelter there
Are phantom peoples, forms of air,
And ghosts of vanished joy and pain.

At evening when the crimson crest
Of sunset passes down the West,
I hear the whispering host returning;
On far-off fields, by elm and oak,
I see the lights, I smell the smoke,–
The Camp-fires of the Past are burning.

 


Henry van Dyke (10 november 1852 – 10 april 1933)
Vernon Park in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Henry van Dyke werd in Germantown geboren.

 

Zie voor de schrijvers van de 16e oktober ook mijn vorige blog van vandaag.