First Day of Fall Mosaic

 

 

Dewy dust drapes dusky sweeps 

Geese-vees perforate yon blue 

Sparser now the cricket cheeps 

Jarring senses with adieu 

Soybean fields unfold mauve mist 

Morning is a frost-kissed barge 

September’s perfect Artist 

Strews masterpieces; no charge 

Longing is a hunter, wild 

September is easy prey 

Vexing, taunting summer’s child 

Torn between ‘let’s roam, let’s stay’ 

Autumn’s advent chills and thrills 

Farewell trembles, bittersweet 

While a fount of petals spills 

Fragrant vagrants at our feet 

Orchard oboes mesmerize 

Apple-dappled rhapsodies 

Steal the sorrow from our sighs 

With annual ecstasies 

Golden rod and gentian 

Wild aster and Sweet Joe Pye 

Flow into roadside gardens 

Like a buffet for the eye 

Like a river none can see 

By a tide of wild wind borne 

Sea-song rushes obscurely 

Through channels of brittle corn 

Ginger-pumpkin-cinnamon 

Warms and seasons comfort foods 

Firesides regain aplomb 

Leaf-lanterns ignite the woods 

© Janet Martin