At The Zoo, by William Makepeace Thackeray, 1811-1868
First I saw the white bear, then I saw the black;
Then I saw the camel with a hump upon his back;
Then I saw the grey wolf, with mutton in his maw;
Then I saw the wombat waddle in the straw;
Then I saw the elephant a-waving of his trunk;
Then I saw the monkeys--mercy, how unpleasantly they smelt!
And in Russian:
ОСЕНЬЮ, Афанасий Фет
Когда сквозная паутина
Разносит нити ясных дней
И под окном у селянина
Далекий благовест слышней,
Мы не грустим, пугаясь снова
Дыханья близкого зимы,
А голос лета прожитого
Яснее понимаем мы.
I already mentioned which poem I liked best, but I'll just paste it in here, too:
September, by Helen Hunt Jackson, 1830-1885
The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
The gentian's bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusty pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.
The sedges flaunt their harvest,
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brook-side
Make asters in the brook,
From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes' sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With yellow butterflies.
By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer's best of weather,
And autumn's best of cheer.
But none of all this beauty
Which floods the earth and air
Is unto me the secret
Which makes September fair.
'Tis a thing which I remember;
To name it thrills me yet:
One day of one September
I never can forget.
