Autumn

For all daylight hours of this magical season I lingered along the edge of a lake and Was treated to the crunch and rustle of leaves And all sounds are as crisp as autumn air. The leaves fall and the wind blows Pastures smell with uneaten placentas The lovely autumn days, the new mown hay. Pigeon in the morn, cuckoo in the noon, Corncrake in the eve, the wasps in the jam The smell of gorse, the look of the gorse. Apples falling, children walking on leaves Larch turning brown, the chestnuts falling Winds howling, the sea breaking over the pier The milkweed pods are breaking and Bits of silken down floating on breeze I stood for a while under autumn tree The cripple wind moved among the leaves Voices of the insects, deer by the fence This autumn dusk has brought me tears. +++ January 4, 2015 Form; Free Verse Third Place win