The Falling Leaves

Here's another short poem from Clark Ashton Smith (CAS) not published in his lifetime and not available on The Eldritch Dark.  So here's the text itself:


The leaves are falling, gold and red,
          About the old and dying year,
Making a couch for feet and head.
          Ah, who could wish a richer bier!


Simple and straightforward, but I like the idea of a dignified exit inspired by the change of the seasons late in the year.  Many of the verses that I have read so far by CAS are strongly rooted in the cycles of the natural world.  That's not uncommon in English poetry in general, but I think CAS handles these themes extraordinarily well.