My November Guest

by Robert Frost

My sorrow, when she's here with me,
      Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
      She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
      She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grey
      Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
      The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
      And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
      The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
      And they are better for her praise.

Thrasher

by Neil Young

They were hiding behind hay bales
They were planting in the full moon
They had given all they had for something new
But the light of day was on them
They could see the thrashers coming
And the water shone like diamonds in the dew

And I was just getting up
Hit the road before it's light
Trying to catch an hour on the sun
When I saw those thrashers rolling by
Looking more than two lanes wide
I was feeling like my day had just begun

Where the eagle glides descending
There's an ancient river bending
Through the timeless gorge of changes
Where sleeplessness awaits
I searched out my companions
Who were lost in crystal canyons
When the aimless blade of science
Slashed the pearly gates

It was then I knew I'd had enough
Burned my credit card for fuel
Headed out to where the pavement turns to sand
With a one-way ticket to the land of truth
And my suitcase in my hand
How I lost my friends I still don't understand

They had the best selection
They were poisoned with protection
There was nothing that they needed
Nothing left to find
They were lost in rock formations
Or became park bench mutations
On the sidewalks and in the stations
They were waiting, waiting

So I got bored and left them there
They were just deadweight to me
Better down the road without that load
Brings back the time when I was eight or nine
I was watching my mama's TV
It was that great Grand Canyon rescue episode

Where the vulture glides descending
On an asphalt highway bending
Through libraries and museums
Galaxies and stars
Down the windy halls of friendship
To the rose clipped by the bullwhip
The motel of lost companions
Waits with heated pool and bar

But me I'm not stopping there
Got my own row left to hoe
Just another line in the field of time
When the thrasher comes, I'll be stuck in the sun
Like the dinosaurs in shrines
But I'll know the time has come
To give what's mine

First Air of Autumn

by Mike Cooley

First air of autumn up your nose
Popcorn, heavy hairspray, nylon pantyhose
Please stand and bow your heads
And pray you don't get old

The nurture and the admonition of your kind
The rules of 'only strong survive'
Cross-shaped swimming pools down in the blood and lifted up
Forever seeking favor from the light

Schoolhouse hallway like a prairie highway sprawls
The drop-off spins away the sun
The getting-there just proves it's nothing but a ball
Pray the horizon never comes

The hearts of the daughters of the men
Won by the softness of the sons of women's hands
To leave it up to love
Would leave it left to chance

Memory only shows the promise beauty broke
Of beauty ageless in its time
Light attracts the same
You glance away and the glory fades
And being on your arm has lost its shine

School house hallway like a prairie highway sprawls
The drop-off spins away the sun
Like eyes that once could cut through candle power on autumn nights
First air of autumn leaves me numb

A Late Walk

by Robert Frost

When I go up through the mowing field,
    The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
    Half closes the garden path.

And when I come to the garden ground,
    The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
    Is sadder than any words.

A tree beside the wall stands bare,
    But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
    Comes softly rattling down.

I end not far from my going forth
    By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
    To carry again to you.

Try to Remember

by Tom Jones

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow
Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow

Try to remember when life was so tender
That no one wept except the willow
Try to remember when life was so tender
That dreams were kept beside your pillow
Try to remember when life was so tender
That love was an ember about to billow
Try to remember, and if you remember, then follow

Deep in December it's nice to remember
Although you know the snow will follow
Deep in December it's nice to remember
Without the hurt the heart is hollow
Deep in December it's nice to remember
The fire of September that made us mellow
Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow

Harvest Moon

by Neil Young

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleeping
We could dream this night away

But there's a full moon rising
Let's go dancing in the light
We know where the music's playing
Let's go out and feel the night

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart

But now it's getting late
And the moon is climbing high
I want to celebrate
See it shining in your eye

I Can Remember

by Eric Carmen

I can remember
Summer skies and your eyes
And in September
When I first realized
That I needed you to be
The other half of me
And my love long-locked inside itself
Had finally been set free

I can remember
Autumm skies and good-byes
Hurting so badly
That I thought I would die
But the more things seem to change
The more they stay the same
And the lonely ones get lonelier
With every passing day

From the day we met
I knew that I should never let you
Get a hold on me
'Cause now you see, I can't forget you

Oh, I can remember midsummer skies
Love in your eyes

In the spring the sun will shine
And make the ice surrender
But it will not warm my heart
As long as I remember

And I will remember midsummer skies
Love in your eyes
And I will remember the times I've cried
Since you say good-bye

I nearly died when you said
'I can't let you down anymore
'So I guess this is good-bye'
What did you do it for?
Every time I think of you and him together
I break down and cry

Oh, I can remember the tears I've cried
Since you say good-bye

November Nights

by Gram Parsons

You say that you're restless
You say that you know me too well
You've seen all my best
And you've heard all the stories I tell
You think you've been taken for granted
You're probably right

I remember a November night
When the dawn on your doorway
Shone white with frost
And the soft love that always began
With the touch of your hand
And recall the mornings that tossed
Your hair in the wind

Time has made it meaningless
I'm not the same, you can tell
But why am I leaving
Unless time had only meant well?
There's nothing left now to excite you
No reason to try

I remember a candlelit sky
And the summer surrounding the ground
Where you and I lay
And though we were always alone
With our secrets known
We both were aware and afraid
The closeness might end

My love's like a dancer
She weaves through the dangers complete
With well-rehearsed answers
And rational reasons for feet
But if it decreases
Or ceases to always seem right

I remember a November Night
When the dawn on your doorway
Shone white with frost
And the soft love that always began
With the touch of your hand
And recall the mornings that tossed
Your hair in the wind

The Death of Autumn

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

When reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,
And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind
Like aged warriors westward, tragic, thinned
Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes,
Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,
Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek,—
Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes
My heart. I know that Beauty must ail and die,
And will be born again,—but ah, to see
Beauty stiffened, staring up at the sky!
Oh, Autumn! Autumn!—What is the Spring to me?

September in the Rain

by Al Dubin

The leaves of brown
Came tumbling down
Remember in September
In the rain

The sun went out
Just like a dying ember
That September
In the rain

To every word of love
I heard you whisper
The raindrops seemed to play
A sweet refrain

Though spring is here
To me it's still September
That September
In the rain

October

by Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the wall.

September Song

by Maxwell Anderson

It's a long, long time from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game

Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few
September and November
But these few precious days I'll spend with you
These precious days I'll spend with you

Autumn in New York

by Vernon Duke

Autumn in New York
Why does it seem so inviting?
Autumn in New York
It spells the thrill of first-nighting

Glittering crowds and shimmering clouds
In canyons of steel
They're making me feel I'm home

It's autumn in New York
That brings the promise of new love
Autumn in New York
Is often mingled with pain

Dreamers with empty hands
They sigh for exotic lands
It's autumn in New York
It's good to live it again

This autumn in New York
Transforms the slums into Mayfair
Autumn in New York
You'll need no castles in Spain

Lovers that bless the dark
On benches in Central Park
It's autumn in New York
It's good to live it again

Hard Candy

by Adam Duritz

On certain Sundays in November
When the weather bothers me
I empty drawers of other summers
Where my shadows used to be
She is standing by the water
As her smile begins to curl
In this or any other summer
She is something altogether different
Never just an ordinary girl

And in the evenings on Long Island
When the colors start to fade
She wears a silly yellow hat
That someone gave her when she stayed
I didn't think that she returned it
We left New York in a whirl
Time expands and then contracts
When you are spinning in the grip of someone
Who is not an ordinary girl

And when you sleep
You find your mother in the night
But she stays just out of sight
So there isn't any sweetness in the dreaming
And when you wake
The morning covers you with light
And it makes you feel alright
But it's just the same hard candy
You're remembering again

You send your lover off to China
And you wait for her to call
You put your girl up on a pedestal
Then you wait for her to fall
I put my summers back in a letter
And I hide it from the world
All the regrets you can't forget
Are somehow pressed upon a picture
In the face of such an ordinary girl

Go ask her to come around
And see me late after dark
Don't ask me to come around
Then wait to see if there's a spark