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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Summer's Quadrille


We feel a tender beauty-tug
A bitter-sweet caress
As summer, with a mindless shrug
Begins to shed her dress
Choosing instead of emerald green
A gown of red and gold
With petticoats of scarlet sheen
And sashes bright and bold

The azure blue of summer’s eye
Is moody now, and grayed
Across the field her breezes sigh
A restless serenade
While on the cusp of every hill
And by the valley stream
We see the hand of autumn steal
Fair summer’s verdant gleam

She glides across the tousled grass
In pirouettes and twirls
A chattering and buxom lass
Among the trees she swirls
Yet, with each turn her fingers graze
The heavy, shaded limb
Thus setting wooded slope ablaze
In autumn's glorious hymn

Woe to the beggar of the earth
Who pleads for one more day
Or better still, a summer’s worth
Of hours to while away
With staid compliance moments slip
To grace a phantom shore
A fleeting kiss upon the lip
And gone forevermore

We feel a tender beauty-tug
Flamboyant misery
As summer with a mindless shrug
Fades into history
And all that will be left of it
When her quadrille is done
Is but what we have made of it
Her moments in the sun

Janet Martin

I felt it, an excruciatingly blissful 'beauty-tug'.
I drove into town for fuel and from the green tree-lined street
a bold red and orange arm waved to me.

6 comments:

  1. This is a total treat, Janet, from the title, to the graphic, to the tender farewell to summer.

    I love your description of her as a "chattering and buxom lass" but am drawn to introspection by that last bit"And all that will be left of it...Is but what we have made of it..."

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  2. Violet,
    I'm so glad you felt the poem. Sometimes, though I feel it passionately as I'm writing it, I'm not sure if I'm passing it on the the reader. Affirmation is always appreciated. Thank-you so much. As much as I grieve summer's departure, I also absolutely love the month of September.

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  3. Janet, so far I have not found a single place where your passion was not passed on to the page.

    With your passion for words, I would love to see your reading list.

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  4. Right now my reading list is all those links you sent me, and I am enjoying them immensely! I am trying to apply little bits of it as understanding dimly dawns:)
    Thank-you again for caring enough to do that.

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  5. Janet, I came to this delightful place through Violet.
    She and your other commenters have expressed themselves well, and my thoughts accord with theirs! :)
    Thank you.

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  6. Peter,
    Thank-you so much for visiting and for your kind words.

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I hope you enjoyed your pause on this porch and thank-you for your visit!