I love the fall, it is my favorite time of year. I love that first crisp bite in the air, the crunch of leaves under my feet, the wind that shakes the leaves loose from their last precarious perch, that hint of smoke in the air from burning leaves and fireplaces stoked against the chill of early morning and evening for the first time after the warmth of summer. And most of all the colors....the vibrant blue of the sky,big puffy swifly moving clouds, the green of conifers and the russet, pink, gold, yellow and orange of those that sleep in winter...the hush that comes with the first hint of snow. I love apple picking, making perserves, hayrides, mulled cider and pumpkin pie. I love the holidays of autumn, Columbus Day, Halloween, Samhain, All Saints Day, Guy Fawkes Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving. It's my time of year, a time to settle in for the restfulness of winter and prepare for the rebirth of spring. Autumn gives me hope.
Autumnal
Fading grass gleams low in yellow light
fluffed-up squirrels dig and disagree
quiet mushrooms shoulder fallen leaves
brown and fallen gold for a day, -- yesterday
russet cranesbills startle, and disown
their other season
before the soggy moth-webs
clustered naked twigs
curving fronds of white anemones
earnest little faces bent in morbid fascination
as all around, gathered to the distance
twisted in their minor throes of death lie leaves,
collateral damage of the promised spring.