| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (18331908). A Victorian Anthology, 18371895. 1895. |
| |
| October |
| | | Dollie Radford (b. 1858) |
| |
| |
| FROM falling leaf to falling leaf, | |
| How strange it was, through all the year, | |
| In all its joy and all its grief, | |
| You did not know I loved you dear; | |
| Through all the winter-time and spring, | 5 |
| You smiled and watched me come and go, | |
| Through all the summer blossoming, | |
| How strange it was you did not know. | |
| |
| Your face shone from my earth and sky, | |
| Your voice was in my heart always, | 10 |
| Days were as dreams when you were by, | |
| And nights of dreaming linked the days; | |
| In my great joy I craved so much, | |
| My life lay trembling at your hand, | |
| I prayed you for one magic touch, | 15 |
| How strange you did not understand! | |
| |
| From leaf to leaf, the trees are bare, | |
| The autumn wind is cold and stern, | |
| And outlined in the clear sharp air | |
| Lies a new world for me to learn; | 20 |
| Stranger than all, dear friend, to-day, | |
| You take my hand and do not know | |
| A thousand years have passed away, | |
| Since last yearwhen I loved you so. | |
| |
|
|
|