THROUGH THE MISTY DAWNING

 

Through the misty dawning

Of a crisp autumn morning

Like emerging from a dream

Amidst the haunting scene

I spy Pheasants in the frost

And in the moment, I am lost

UNDER AUTUMNAL SKIES

 

Under autumnal skies

The suns strength diminishes

With each passing day

And foliage turns slowly

From green to gold

To red, to brown

Before fluttering to earth

Where autumn breezes

Make them dance

To the seasons song

But dancing turns to fury

When breeze turns to raging storm

And autumn windfalls

Are sent swirling

As if caught

In a frenetic snow globe

Though the lucky ones

Escape the chaos

Being driven on the wind

Into quiet corners

Or beneath hedgerows

The rest whirl like dervishes

Hither and thither

Until the rains

Turn them to mush under foot

OCTOBER

 

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

IN THE AUTUMN MEADOW

 

In the autumn meadow

Everywhere was wet with Dew

And highlighted in the tall grasses

Were a myriad of lustrous webs

waiting to reward their architects

For their industry and patience

BENEATH THE DUSKY GREY SKY

 

Beneath the dusky grey sky

Of low scudding clouds,

The ambient air was damp

Blown in from the west

On the same storm fed wind

That chased the clouds

Across the autumn sky

THEY MUST CROSS THE BARREN EARTH

 

They must cross the barren earth

Where once wheat and barley grew

A land where nothing lives in the mud

And an eerie silence hugs the land

Until the chattering of machine gun fire

Breaks the quietness of the morning

And hails of bullets cut like a scythe

Until like wheat and barley they fall

THE MIGHTY OAK LAY BROKEN

 

The mighty oak lay broken

In the wake of the storm

And I am deeply saddened

For as a boy I climbed

Its mighty steadfast trunk

And sat amongst its limbs

Sheltering beneath its canopy

As generations of small boys

Had done many times before me

But then I saw an acorn

On the ground beside my feet

So, I picked it up and smiled

And took it home with me

So, I could grow his son