Gold Leaves

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Lo! I am come to autumn,
 When all the leaves are gold;
Grey hairs and golden leaves cry out
 The year and I are old.

In youth I sought the prince of men,
 Captain in cosmic wars,
Our Titan, even the weeds would show
 Defiant, to the stars.

But now a great thing in the street
 Seems any human nod,
Where shift in strange democracy
 The million masks of God.

In youth I sought the golden flower
 Hidden in wood or wold,
But I am come to autumn,
 When all the leaves are gold.

© Gilbert Keith Chesterton