Dolor Of Autumn

The acrid scents of autumn,     Reminiscent of slinking beasts, make me fear     Everything, tear-trembling stars of autumn     And the snore of the night in my ear.     For suddenly, flush-fallen,     All my life, in a rush     Of shedding away, has left me     Naked, exposed on the bush.     I, on the bush of the globe,     Like a newly-naked berry, shrink     Disclosed: but I also am prowling     As well in the scents that slink     Abroad: I in this naked berry     Of flesh that stands dismayed on the bush;     And I in the stealthy, brindled odours     Prowling about the lush     And acrid night of autumn;     My soul, along with the rout,     Rank and treacherous, prowling,     Disseminated out.     For the night, with a great breath intaken,     Has taken my spirit outside     Me, till I reel with disseminated consciousness,     Like a man who has died.     At the same time I stand exposed     Here on the bush of the globe,     A newly-naked berry of flesh     For the stars to probe.