Dancing Dust
	Poems by Mollie Caird (1922-2000)
	Autumn Cheer
Home Alphabetic index of poems Thematic index of poems Biography Gallery Contact and links	How sadly poets talk of waning days, Lament lost glories of the summer past: Poor autumn, nature’s penitential fast, They wrap in mellow browns and muted greys, Shroud it in smoke and mist and milky haze That clings about the river while the last Swallows fly south and weary willows cast Their withered clothes.  Come, autumn, make a blaze! Now conkers garnet-red upon the street Wink in the shuffled leaves where scuffing feet Of children run to welcome Hallowe’en With turnip-lanterns; then Guy Fawkes is seen Throned afire, while rockets fiercely bright Turn lenten autumn to a feast of light. Oxford Times, 1 November 1963 The Dancing Dust and other poems, 1983