From October, or Autumnal Tints by Henry David Thoreau:
“It is remarkable that the latest bright color … should be this deep, dark scarlet and red, the intensest of colors. The ripest fruit of the year; like the cheek of a hard, glossy, red apple…. This late forest-flower surpasses all that spring or summer could do. Their colors were but rare and dainty specks comparatively … and made no impression on a distant eye…. It is like a little red paint ground on a saucer, and held up against the sunset sky.”