Ghosts of November: Walter Scott and Adelaide Crapsey on Autumn’s Fade

November 4, 2019

Sir Walter Scott's lines evoke the quintessential November landscape, where the sky turns chill and drear, and leaves blush with the fiery hues of autumn’s fading glory:

"November's sky is chill and drear, November's leaf is red and sear."

This landscape of transition is captured with delicate poignancy by Adelaide Crapsey in her poem November Night, where the falling leaves are likened to "steps of passing ghosts."

Her verse invites us to listen attentively to the faint, dry sounds of frost-crisped leaves breaking away from the trees, embodying the bittersweet passage from life to rest:

"Listen ...
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break free from the trees And fall."

Crapsey's poem, in the form of a cinquain, mirrors the natural progression of the seasons and the inevitable retreat into winter dormancy.

The imagery is both vivid and haunting, with the fallen leaves serving as a tender memento mori—a reminder of mortality that lends depth and beauty to the autumnal landscape.

In this quiet scene, we find a serene acceptance of the cycles of life, death, and regeneration that define the garden and the soul alike.

For gardeners and nature lovers, these words offer a meditative moment: to reflect on the beauty of endings as a prelude to new beginnings, and to honor the silent music of the season’s turning.