5 OCTOBER 1895, Page 16

A WISH.

DEATH, when I die, I pray thee let it be In autumn, when across the spiky furze There floats the film of silver gossamers : In early autumn, when the cherry-tree Is touched with flame; the beech with russet gold; And o'er the fallow field and purple lea The starlings scream, while swaliows put to sea, And woolly mists hang 1;ght on wood and wold. Now when no sound is heard, unless it were The thud of acorns on the wrinkled earth, While thoughts of summer linger in the air, Sweet with the smell of apples; now when Mirth Is still as Grief, and Peace is everywhere, Bring me, 0 Death, into the arms of Birth ! E. 8..