OCTOBERNESS

Misty mornings

Start dim and dismal

Penetrating Dampness

Seeping into your bones

Some days it brightens later

Enough for shirtsleeves

Then when darkness falls

Curtains are drawn

At the months beginning

Grass is still growing green

The trees are well covered still

Then leaves turn green to yellow

Yellow is burnished to gold

Gold to burning red

Then red to earth

Beyond the equinox

Days have already become

More dark than light

Before the clocks fall back

And the sun sets sooner

Days of sunshine deceive

Sheltered pockets warm and confuse the senses

In the later days

When the residual warmth diminishes

The bite remains

To herald worse to come