Quote of the Day (William Allingham, on ‘Autumn’s Fire’)

“Now Autumn's fire burns slowly along the woods,

And day by day the dead leaves fall and melt,

And night by night the monitory blast

Wails in the key-hole, telling how it pass'd

O'er empty fields, or upland solitudes,

Or grim wide wave; and now the power is felt

Of melancholy, tenderer in its moods

Than any joy indulgent Summer dealt.”—Irish poet William Allingham (1824-1889), “Autumnal Sonnet”

I took the photo accompanying this post in late October 2008, when I was in the area of Boston. I wish I had labeled more precisely where this poem was taken, because the only area I can distinctly recall where there was a body of water was Walden Pond.

It would be appropriate if it were Henry David Thoreau’s paradise that I was shooting. In any case, the great Transcendentalist, I think, might have found a kindred romantic spirit across the Atlantic in William Allingham.