A Visit From Verglas

Sultry heat is but a memory

Stifling sweat suspended

Blustery breezes

Gusty winds

Colder nights

Verdancy to rich earth tones

Exquisite reds, oranges, yellows,

signaling the welcome of comfort foods,

Generous in carbohydrates

Family meals more often

Aunts and Uncles

Cousins and siblings

Gathering to eat together

From one moment to another,

days shortened seemingly,

without notice

Sun is in a different place,

burning less intensely

Nights no longer lacking humidity

Sporadic drenching rains,

washing away the evidence of summer,

giving land a healthy drink,

to store for the impending

bitter cold months

Atmosphere chills degree by degree,

each week calling,

each day searching,

for this season’s toil to end

Earth working diligently,

to shed its vibrant wardrobe,

stripping limb and branch bare

Exposed for all onlookers,

the canopy left nude,

yet not shy in their exhibition

Skeletal remains of life clearly visible

Abounding colors made way

for the brown of decomposition

Fallen foliage,

cluttering the ground,

covering lawns,

clogging gutters

When rains came to dampen the ground,

decaying loamy smells of dried leaves,

give way to sour fragrance of rot

No notice is given in our busy days,

to the sudden quiet wrapping its arms

around plant, tree, and creature

A sense of foreboding,

as animal and insect prepare food stores,

for lean months threatening

Silence in the air,

mornings once filled with birdsong

Song has disappeared,

replaced with contemplative, emptiness

If noticed,

no one mentions it

Life’s business and scurrying about,

retarding reflection

Autumn keeps calling Death forward

Gloom enters the peripheral,

Sneaking into human spirit and emotion

Darkness slinks in with Gloom,

overtaking morning sunshine,

displacing the excitement of waking,

to a bright and shiny day

Time gives us less of her useful hours

As she lets the covering blanket of night

Enter earlier and earlier

Without requesting permission,

she had allowed Darkness to advance,

hastier than recent months past

Shivering uncomfortably,

we spend more hours inside than out

As artificially warmed air soothes

our sensibilities

Waiting,

in the cold recesses,

unseen and in anticipation,

lies the compère of impending dormancy

Conniving, plotting and devising,

its manner of appearance

Witnessing the familiarity and comfort,

of change has settled in,

with nature and humanity,

the siren of final transition,

sanctions its own in incredulity,

while slumber overtakes,

land, insect, animal and man

Expeditiously it lays its secret ploy

leaving telltale evidence

that autumn is concluded

Unleashed is a bitter cold,

daily visions of white, glittering,

moisture adhereing to underbrush

Acceptance of the arrival of winter,

at the herald of winters presenter,

spreads thoroughly

Cold and biting winds capture and embrace us,

refusing to release us for months,

until springs release from the icy, glacial,

and snowy winters tortures and pleasures.

In tandem, Jack Verglas and the Old Man

will remain inclement visitors,

that we will long to vacate,

in three months time

Frozen dewy vapor,

ushering in the silence and peaceful

repose of living things,

needed for the rejuvenescence,

that will be brought in spring.