Fall Winds

 Fall is in full, frigid form today!

Welcome Octo-b-r-r-r!

They raid the gleaming tress of tree-tops; parade, trip, tumble and twirl

They chase the loosened leaf like a schoolboy teasing the pretty girl

The heart once heaped with flowered laughter feels a little lost and sad

Soft-torn between the scenes of summer and fall’s apple-pumpkin plaid

They brood outside windows pulled shut against their chilling, surly sweep

They unravel the canopy that lulled a sun warm world to sleep

They wake in us want for kind comforts we forgot in summer’s spree

They make us glad for simple pleasures; supper-soup and cuppa tea

Sometimes they fling a sapphire awning overhead and steps grow light

And we are thankful earth’s undoing does not happen overnight

Sometimes they weigh the leaden heavens with a sea that has no shore

As harvest-time takes a hiatus while fall anthems pour and pour

Reckless rebels that romp about; vexatious rogues, they seem to me

To love to turn us inside out with reluctance and ecstasy

Unorthodox bold Casanovas, they make us admit full-well

That we would miss fall’s ruddy bliss if summer stayed till winter fell

They instigate a kindred spirit with the sympathy of ink

And strike a chord within the poet that inspires her to think

In ways that sunny summer days cannot begin to comprehend

Ah, fall winds kindle winsome whispers only Poem can defend

They plunder frost-bedraggled cornfield’s rustle-weary infantry

They thunder through blue shadows etched on molten, golden twilight’s lea

And propel us from yester-season to Time’s present colour-blast

They let us know for sure and certain that summer’s last days are past

© Janet Martin