Blest be that autumn brown and sere!

Bless-ed the day and blest the year,

Of his[C] nativity!

Blest be the hospitals, which rise,

Resultant of thy enterprise,

Thy zeal and fervency.

Blest be that hunter[D] saint of thine!

Bless-ed the deer, and blest the sign

Between its antlers broad!

To us, thy daughters, is it given

To bless thee, in the name of Heaven,

And blessing thee, bless God.

FOOTNOTES:

[C]

 St. Hubert.

[D]

 St. Hubert, the apostle of Ardennes, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, the patron of huntsmen. He was of a noble family of Acquitaine. While hunting in the forests of Ardennes he had a vision of a stag with a shining crucifix between its antlers, and heard a warning voice. He was converted, entered the church, and eventually became Bishop of Maestricht and Liege. He worked many miracles, and is said to have died in 727 or 729. Spofford's Cyclopædia, Vol. 4, page 470.

 Suggested by a Mountain Eagle.

I gazed at the azure-hued mantle of heaven,

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