The poem behind the song
Carman turns the arrival of autumn into a call to movement. Colour, wind and distance awaken the traveller’s instinct, making the landscape feel both physical and deeply personal.
Its forward rhythm is already close to song. The musical adaptation brings out that sense of walking onward while preserving the poem’s warmth and freedom.
Read the complete poemBliss Carman
There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood—
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.
The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.
There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.
Text follows the version used in the musical adaptation. Text source ↗
The original poem is in the public domain. The musical adaptation and video are by Melody Tales Music.