Date: 19th August 2026
Autumnal whispers swirl in the breeze
As its gentle arrival hugs the trees
Still offering warmth in the glow of daylight
Changing leaves into rustic colourful delight.
Autumns breath gradually grows cold
To prepare the earth for winters hold.
Autumn breathes opportunity to animal kind
To gather up every morsel they can find
So that they can stay safe, fed and warm
Tucked in, cozy, away from winters storm.
Even with the knowledge of what is to follow,
Autumns breath soothes pre-winter sorrow.
Autumns breath reminds us that seasons end.
The harsh, dark, colder times won't last, my friend.
changing leaves falling
touching coldness of ground
crisp under damp boots
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At dawn, your fingers
still trace the curve of my spine
like they're reading braille~
each scar, each shift in the landscape,
a sentence you know by heart.
You laugh when I steal the blanket,
when my knees find the hollows
behind yours, an old map
drawn without compass or reason.
Our fights are old books now,
their spines cracked open
to the same dog-eared pages~
we know the lines by heart,
but recite them softer these days.
We are two trees grown
into each other’s bark,
gnarled and weathered-together,
no longer remembering
which rings belong to whom.
Some loves are built like this~
not with grand gestures,
but with the quiet tyranny
of your coffee cup left warming
on my nightstand,
the way you hum off-key
in the shower, still, after all these years,
and I pretend not to hear it,
and you pretend not to know.
Forty-three autumns,
and your hands smell like sawdust
and onions, and I wouldn’t trade
our slow unraveling for anything~
not even the taut, bright thread
we once were.
Colors fade
Petals curl slowly
Grudgingly
Succumbing
To Autumn’s
beauty
Don't you dare whisper a warm breath on my shoulder,
Or I might become even yet more, steamy and bolder!
Here~on this intoxicating, Western, autumnal night.
I wish I were, I wish I might, be your amorous slave tonight!
Like a scented, rainbowed candle, joyfully melting into you.
Becoming not one rainbowed glorious person, but a divine two.
A destined, waxing puddle of the most ardent, joyous lovers.
We are autmn’s blessed ones, under moonlit,sweet cloud-covers.
Oh, how divinely close, under the caring eyes of the stars,we are,
Sparkling in the velvet darkness, like bright jewels from planet,Mars!
9/20/2024
@ Panagiota Romios
autumns beauty soars
cornucopias harvest
death of green folliage
flowers all gone now
grasses dried out color brown
seasons autumn fall
cool cold brisk blank air
below fifty degrees so
season change winter
after autumn falls
everything’s not dead just brown
dormant is the grounds
12/13/2023
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2023©
autumns sun not warm
nigh enough soon be winter's
dawn coolness turns to
~
imaginate the
calms humble peace cold drifting
cool turns cold winter
12/6/23
Written words by James Edward Lee Sr. 2023©
oh those autumns past....cinnamon cider kisses warmed by
the bonfire
Bonfires capture moods
laughter and friendship is shared
smiling children play
A more naked light filters through
branching nervous systems.
A fade and shade
seeps into dendritic pathways
shedding forever
falling leaves,
recollections of so many
dissolving
autumnal moments.
Summer shakes hands with Autumn and says goodbye
The trees sway in the wind the leaves begin to fly
A multitude of colors blend together
Announcing the arrival of a change in weather
The rain begins to spill from the clouds
Bring relief to our drought stricken grounds
Darkness sets in the street lights respond
Puddles on the road look more like a pond
The cold air sends chills down my spine
I pick up my pace need to make up time
The damp clothing clings to me me I start to squirm
A hot cup of coffee awaits my return
Outside my windowpane
Daylight dwindles
Sunshines sparsely
Further from the new dome skies
Ninety-three million miles away
Imbued in ripened colors
Nature’s mahogany, oak, and cherrywood trees
and Jogger’s grassy paths once lime greens,
Chanting to changing tones of richer reds
Clustered blue-jays adorn
Like shimmering rhinestones
Gayly sing above our heads
Shadows stretch out deep
Swaying weeping willows sweep
Smoke smells flow through the crisp air
Musky scent from stonefire oven pits
Spiced up dishes mouthwatering lit
Lavish and lustrous ambers crackle
Flaming orange leaves swirl around and prance
Seducing all to voyeur their performance
Golden crinkled copper leaves splayed
Reaching, rustling to the ground
Making shuffling sounds
Minty blues peak through scarlet rays
Fall cashmere shawls display!
Autumn gardens
Nights that linger lasting moments
Granting lover’s time
For making romance
At the end of her most vibrant display
Autumn takes a final bow;
her splendor, turned to parchment crisps,
skeletal trees are revealed, their arthritic limbs
stretching into a white, frigid sky.
Squirrels fill the barren void with plenty of nuts and nests;
rabbits and chipmunks burrow beneath
chilling grounds to the warmth below, for their winter’s repose.
Scent of wood fires wafts from chimneys as winds begin to bite.
Autumn’s palette is wiped clean and
stored until Spring births are ready to record.
They carpet the ground,
Dried and separated from their railings,
Their lustre, taken by the season,
Their hue is absorbed by the agents holding sway.
They are gathered together,
Raked in heaps and bunches,
Collected in vessels.
A duty bequeathed to us.
A new season has opened its doors,
We're embraced by the changes,
Sculptured by nature,
Scripted by time.
September 24, 2022.
Raking Leaves,
Fall Flavours Poetry Contest,
Regina McIntosh.
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