Indian Summer + 

A silken curtain veils the skies, + 

And half conceals from pensive eyes + 

The bronzing tokens of the fall; + 

A calmness broods upon the hills, + 

And summer’s parting dream distils + 

A charm of silence over all. + 

The stacks of corn, in brown array, + 

Stand waiting through the tranquil 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. + 