Dmitry Merezhkovsky
Autumn in a Summer Garden

Along a misty garden way,
With autumn foliage on display,
A child with smiling innocence
Is picking up a strange bouquet.

As shadows lengthen into night,
His lively eyes devour the view.
October's light has made more bright
The dying bouquet's vivid hue.

The more the evening light grows dim,
And twilight fades away to dark,
More gleeful does his laughter brim,
Most sounding like a joyful lark.

To him the autumn time is bliss,
And leaf fall is part of the same.
The withered leaves don't seem amiss;
Their death is no more than a game.

Translated by Roger Robison