Autumn

Image by Cora Yocker

Autumn


The time has come.
Abundant summer and his gifts have left,
the harvest has been gathered
And the last fruits are ripening on the bough
in the rays of autumn’s cooling sun.

This is the time we children
knew to go into the fields,
The season came upon us
with a breath of autumn from the woods,
A breath we felt but once,
and not before and not again
The whole year through.
And we knew the time had come
to light the fires.
We watched the flames
and owned the land, the streams, the woods,
the fields of all the Earth were ours.
We gladly gave the wandering swans,
the cranes and geese
A share of this, our Earth.

This is the time
when man had best return to shelter,
If he has none, he will not build one now.
This is the time to say goodbye
to Earth’s great bounty,
Withdraw to firesides, to books,
to thoughts and silent walks
Among the fallen leaves.

Friko

Posted over on her site Friko's Musings
It was listed at #10 on Magpie Tales 35