As summer into autumn slips

As Summer into Autumn slips
And yet we sooner say
"The Summer" than "the Autumn", lest
We turn the Sun away,

And almost count it an Affront the presence to concede
Of one however lovely, not
The one that we have loved -

So we evade the Charge of Years
One one[^a1] attempting shy
The Circumvention of the Shaft
Of Life's declivity.

[^a1: One one | On one]