sometimes sees
In Nicotian reveries
Features of some Lovely Girl
In the tinted wreaths that curl
From his pipe; so, as we gaze
Through the soft September haze
In the years' calm afternoon
Red with summer's ashes strewn,
Through the tender veil of mist,
Woven gold and amethyst,
Summer's charming ghost we see
Decked in Indian panoply.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

OCTOBER

Say! October, how in thunder
Do you keep so young, I wonder?
You're no chicken, and you know it,
Yet, old man, for all you show it,
You might, on a sunny day,
Pass for April or for May.
See, your house is falling round you,
Yet you're laughing--say! confound you,
What's the secret? How'd you do it?
Mist and moisture? Ah, I knew it!
A pipe! A mug! October brew,
Fill up--October--here's to you!

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

NOVEMBER

Who's that pedler at the door?
What! November, back once more?
Why, it seems but yesterday
That he took himself away!
Say I'm out! Tell him to go!
He has nothing new to show.
Same old lay-out every trip,
Same Pneumonia, same old Grippe,
Same old Hard Luck tales to tell,
Same Thanksgiving Day--oh, well,
Show him in--then stir the log
And bring church-warden pipes and grog.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

DECEMBER

Proudly beams the Christmas Tree
In its tinsel finery.
Round and round in sprightly pairs
Children dance to old-time airs--
Though they laugh they make no sound;
Dancing, still they tread no ground.
Naught but airy phantoms they
Of a vanished Christmas Day,
Ancient playmates found again
In a smoke wreath's purple skein,
And they whisper in my ear,
"Does Christmas still come once a year?"

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: FINIS]

End of Project Gutenberg's The Smoker's Year Book, by Oliver Herford

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