eat, pray, post

waxing poetic, waning frenetic

Say A Little Prayer

By

autumn

Smell fire,
fire burning
and moss,
damp and earthy
a soft, melancholy hush
of foggy, silvery morning dew
cracking, crunching,
those stale branches, creaking, snapping,
bare, barren, desolate trees
wet, muddy,
slimy leaves,
slipping,
then dry again,
feathered needles falling,
to blanket the path.

 Asters, Goldenrod, Sedum drying,
clipping the hardy’s back,
and pruning the smoke bush,
not too early though,
and honking geese,
those fair-weather friends,
bid farewell,
a hasty retreat,
and a football,
tossing, sailing, over-the-shoulder catching,
children running,
and a little dog yapping,
playful, delighted,
and the splitting, bundling, stacking
of wood, yet unseasoned,
and those carved up
gourds aplenty,
all the senses reeling,
things dirty, but clean too,
crisp air, so nippy,
raking, rustling,
gathering those piles,
 and dumping, burning,
with a cool, whipping,
blustery, wind
that whistles a ghostly sound,
acorns dropping,
bombing the ground,
and fresh picked
apples, baking,
with nutmeg, cinnamon,
a whole harvest,
of canning,
 maple sugar house,
the sap,
seeped, tapped, still boiling,
and
you,
in flannel, in shearling,
in hounds-tooth wool
and boots, and ear-flapped hat,
and gloves for working
you,
picture ready,
your rifle steady,

off to get the bird.

Today with nostrils flaring
inhaling a dusty, sweet-piney, pungent air,
I smell the fires,
of long ago,
they’re burning all around
those leaves of reddish-brown,
rust,
crackling,
to ashes, to dust
and back to the ground,
the debris, the heaps,
of the dead or dying,
like this whole year gone,
they just simmer now,
they curl,
they crumble,
they pop,
but it remains,
aglow,
the fire – my fire,
it warms my hands,
and my heart,
but just like this fall,
it will die
slowly, too
and I say a little prayer
a hushed little prayer
for you,
always you

before it’s gone.

 

Comments

  1. http://tinyurl.com/zjh2bek says

    Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear.
    Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say
    wonderful blog!