A Year’s Windfall

In the parching August wind, 
Cornfields bow the head, 
Sheltered in round valley depths, 
On low hills outspread. 
Early leaves drop loitering down
Weightless on the breeze, 
First-fruits of the year's decay 
From the withering trees.

Note: Today's selection is an excerpt from a poem called A Year's Windfalls by the English poet Christina Rossetti.

Christina Rossetti also wrote the words to two of my favorite Christmas Carols: In the Bleak Midwinter and Love Came Down at Christmas.