The Cool Winds Approach

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

--George Eliot

Yes, autumn is on the way, and welcome to it. The soul-crushing heat of last week has me ready to carve pumpkins and hike through the fall foliage. Thank you, God, for the cooler weather and the lovely fall which is surely on the way!

Transitioning to Autumn

Today it is cool! Cool for the first time in ages. So I started thinking about autumn and all the things I love about it--and then I remembered its brevity, and was reminded of this poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

THE DEATH OF AUTUMN

"WHEN reeds are dead and a straw to thatch the marshes,
And feathered pampas-grass rides into the wind
Like agèd warriors westward, tragic, thinned
Of half their tribe, and over the flattened rushes,
Stripped of its secret, open, stark and bleak,
Blackens afar the half-forgotten creek,–
Then leans on me the weight of the year, and crushes
My heart. I know that Beauty must ail and die,
And will be born again,–but ah, to see
Beauty stiffened, staring up at the sky!
Oh, Autumn ! Autumn !–What is the Spring to me?"

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Autumn, You are Welcome Any Time

I realize that soon the summer heat will be a thing of the past. The cold autumn winds will force us to close the windows, and we'll wonder where the warm days went. Yet after this summer, I can't help but think I'll welcome those bitter winds. Sure, today is supposed to be the last scorcher for a while, but until the air grows cooler I fear that all inspiration to write will simply melt inside me.

So I say, bring on the yellow leaves, the orchards sagging with fall fruit, the woodsmoke and the football games. I'm ready, and I'm willing.