November

No sun — no moon!
No morn — no noon –
No dawn — no dusk — no proper time of day –

No sky — no earthly view –
No distance looking blue –
No road — no street — no “t’other side the way ” –

No end to any Row –
No indications where the Crescents go –
No top to any steeple –
No recognitions of familiar people –

No courtesies for showing ‘em –
No knowing ‘em!
No travelling at all — no locomotion,
No inkling of the way — no notion –

“No go” — by land or ocean –
No mail — no post –
No news from any foreign coast –
No park — no ring — no afternoon gentility –

No company — no nobility –
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,

November!

– Thomas Hood, in The Book of Days, 1832

Lifted from Futility Closet