Almost Autumn

Although it’s almost autumn And the stands are stacked with mums, It somehow feels like we’ve been stuck With summer’s unswept crumbs. For temps are in the 70’s, So folks are wearing shorts; And baseball scores are still a part Of all the sports reports. There’s watermelon in the stores And burgers on the grill; Mosquitoes buzz around the screens, Their thirst for blood to fill. Yet shops are decked for Halloween And football season’s started. Ice cream trucks have hushed their bells And for the south departed. The almost-fall’s confusing. We’re betwixt and we’re between; But Mother Nature, with her paintbrush, Soon will intervene. When oaks and elms and maples Sport their red or russet hues, Then autumn will be here for real And we won’t have to choose.