by George Orwell (published in the Adelphi Magazine, May 1933)
Summer-like for an instant the autumn sun bursts out,
And the light through the turning elms is green and clear,
It slants down the path and the ragged marigolds glow
Fiery again, last flames of the dying year.
A blue-tit darts with a flash of wings, to feed
Where the coconut hangs on the pear tree over the wall;
He digs at the meat like a tiny pickaxe tapping
With his needle-sharp beak as he clings to the swinging ball.
