Autumn’s aria sweeps a stage
Of milkweed pod and purple sage
Early the lamp-light circle spills
As twilight veils the ruddy hills
Each house along the boulevard
At dusk, seems like an old postcard
Until I almost smell the sigh
Of wood smoke climbing to the sky
Where autumn like an umber bell
Tolls to the dark, farewell, farewell
The dance of youth and innocence
Must soon bear its deliverance
For moments, soundless as the leaf
That falls, will soon unveil their grief
And we of more and lesser days
Wander at autumn dusk, the ways
Where thought alone can see our feet
Trample the path of bittersweet
And past sweeps like last summer’s wave
Across Time’s moment-metered grave
The song of autumn leaps, then weeps
Where lazy summer laughter sleeps
We spread our fingers but the breeze
Fills them with murmured memories
Of musky plum and sun-kissed peach
And bare-feet footprints on a beach
As sea-song sweeps its empty shore
And weeps for Time’s for-nevermore
The autumn darkness strums a tune
Of winter coming far too soon…
© Janet Martin
