Autumn is indeed with us. Brisk, chill evenings. Summer’s heat departed. From the back of the closet, warm fall coats. And coming up: first furnace day. Here’s a poem honoring the arrival of this rich season.
Autumn Hymn
Autumn like a cathedral
of trees and sunlight in trees
dogs far barking,
the edge of cooling silence.
Autumn lovely in dying
the deep sky bearing up the hawk
crisp fallen leaves mark footsteps,
the ghost of summer moaning in the hedge.
Autumn of golden slanting light
season of whispering cattails
a dry wind from the Hebrides
carries us away into slumber.
Autumn beyond all containment
wild in the night of the half-moon
visiting our beds, lighting up dreams,
dark witches blessing all endeavor.
Autumn crooning us to sleep
carrying us into darkness and silence,
as though it is our final season
he fingers our ivory bones.
Autumn forever, if we could command it,
soaring out over a gray sea
whispering a sweet departure
dragging behind him pale winter’s grasp.