SOME LIKE AUTUMN BEST...I DO

 SOME LIKE AUTUMN BEST…I DO

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Some like

The angle of the sun in September

      as it heads south toward Capricorn

They like the cooling of the hot days

     from the fever of the summer

The cooler nights, which sometimes

     Call for a light quilt

Ah…and relief from the boring

     Dog Days of August

I do

Many like the maturing and harvesting

     of the fruit

Apples turning red on loaded-down trees

The veggies  all in their final ripening, and

the  great big orange pumpkins,

      so colorful and practically crying out:

“It’s fall time! It’s fall! 

     Cold times are coming!”

And some like it when 

      The “silence of autumn” comes---

a mysterious time when everything seems

       almost muted …the sounds lose

their stridency

      and even the sun seems to cut it’s output

 as if resting from a busy summer

It’s then that an unperceived and almost

     unnoticed  silence 

and a kind of gentleness pervades the 

     cooler air

I like it.

The birds seem to have lost some of 

      their summer laziness

and are eating more, getting ready for

     Old Man Winter!

Even the big white billowing thunderheads

     left over from summer…seem to 

kind of float around with little purpose,

     Trying to decide whether  to rain a little…or 

not---and 

Wispy frazzled pieces of baby clouds trail along

     miles behind, trying to pull themselves together

and catch up with the group

I like it all

Some like it when in the lingering light

    And coolness of the autumn evenings

The sidewalks are filled with dog walkers

     And exercising people …who have

Joined life again…

The green chillies from the fall harvest

     are roasting all over town 

at food stores and in front of farm trucks—

     (making one  hungry for a chile relleno)

and the marvelous smells are filling the air!

The State Fair has begun and somehow

    on certain evenings you can hear

music from the carnival “midway”---

    almost ghost-like

when the breezes are right....

The first big norther will soon blow into

     town….whipping thru the trees and

scurrying the leaves (as yet barely turning)

      across lawns and  along curbs---

Time to stock up on soup bones and 

      check soup recipes, stack firewood by

the back door, and get out a quilt for the 

     old Lazy Boy!

Or head up to my cozy attic, build a fire

    In the little  wood stove, find my Faulkner,

stretch out on my GI half-bed, and open a 

    can of Beanie Weenies!

Oh yes, fall is here again!

Some think it is the most wonderful time

     of the year.

I do.

BY MIL

12 SEPTEMBER 2017