Author: Madison Julius Cawein

---

    Magician he, who, autumn nights,
    Down from the starry heavens whirls;
    A harlequin in spangled tights,
    Whose wand's touch carpets earth with pearls.

    Through him each pane presents a scene,
    A Lilliputian landscape, where
    The world is white instead of green,
    And trees and houses hang in air.

    Where Elfins gambol and delight,
    And haunt the jewelled bells of flowers;
    Where upside-down we see the night
    With many moons and starry showers.

    And surely in his wand or hand
    Is Midas magic, for, behold,
    Some morn we wake and find the land,
    Both field and forest, turned to gold.

---

Type of Poem: Lyric Poem

Date Written:

Date Published:

Language: English

Keywords: Public Domain

Source: Public Domain Collection

Publisher:

Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Comments/Notes: This evocative poem employs a playful, imaginative tone to animate the transition from autumn to winter. The central metaphor casts the seasonal shift as a magician's act, an approach that infuses the poem with a sense of enchantment and whimsy. The imagery of the "harlequin in spangled tights" and his "wand's touch" that "carpets earth with pearls" powerfully encapsulates the transformation of the landscape as frost descends, turning the world into a magical, otherworldly spectacle.

The poem's structure of four quatrains, each with a consistent rhyme scheme, reinforces a sense of order and rhythm that mirrors the predictable, yet awe-inspiring, flow of the seasons. Notably, the poet employs inversion, or a reversal of the natural order of things, to underscore the magical transformation — trees and houses hang in air, the night is filled with multiple moons, and the landscape is turned upside-down. The final stanza, where the land is turned to gold, suggests the dawning of winter's first sunlight on a frosty landscape, a glittering spectacle that caps the magician's spell. This poem, thus, beautifully captures the silent, often overlooked magic of nature's transitions, reminding us to appreciate the ephemeral beauty in each season's passing.