Wonderful Fall

Why does fall cause a lump in my throat,

a bursting of my heart,

a flaming nostalgia to awaken the past

still slumbering in childhood dreams?

A yearning grows like rising sun

to float off into sapphire skies and velvet autumn air;

to kick through paths of fallen leaves and find the secret stair

to harvest’s maturing sun;

to swing among the maples’ goldenrods

and climb the mighty oak’s scarlet and persimmon arms

waving into cornflower-blue skies. 

Leaves scratch sidewalks in eddies of sudden breeze,

branches rustle restless warnings

while wild geese horn in overhead.

What is so eternal, so timeless,

when we know death is in the air?

The last semblance of summer before bitterness bites into the soul--

why does it stir me so?

I hold the moment close,

pretending it could last forever,

when I know it is just that--

a moment--

the last kiss of warming sun before winter wins.

But winter never wins--

for always there is spring--

winter buried between fall and spring--

nature's rite of passage

as the soul, graduating into glory,

finds its wings.

--CJW--