Friday, October 18, 2019

Song for Autumn

'Poem for the week' -- "Song for Autumn":

In the deep fall
  don't you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
  the earth instead of the 
nothingness of air and the endless
  freshets of wind? And don't you think
the trees themselves, especially those with mossy,
  warm caves, begin to think

of the birds that will comesix, a dozento sleep
  inside their bodies?  And don't you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
  the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow?  The pond
  vanishes, and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly bring out
  its blue shadows.  And the wind pumps its
bellows.  And at evening especially,
  the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

-- Mary Oliver

To me, this feels like a bow on top of the gifts of this week's posts—hovering over them, rooted in the last poem for the week. You can just feel the annual turning of things.