I don’t know about you, but I loved my daily routine during the summer months – having my first coffee of the morning out on the deck watching the sun rise till it shone on me through the trees. It was my favourite time of the day – a quiet, peaceful, background filled with bird songs welcoming the day as I read – which I am missing so much now with the days getting shorter.
The colours change as well during this time – what were bright splashes of reds and oranges a few weeks ago now are yellows and soft oranges. After the excitement of watching the reds appear these yellows bring their own subdued beauty and energy.
Here is a lovely October poem that arrived in my Inbox yesterday, thanks to friend Jan Falls, and recent photos of ‘Yellow’.
A Letter in October by Ted Kooser
Dawn comes later and later now,
and I, who only a month ago
could sit with coffee every morning
watching the light walk down the hill
to the edge of the pond and place
a doe there, shyly drinking,
then see the light step out upon
the water, sowing reflections
to either side—a garden
of trees that grew as if by magic—
now see no more than my face,
mirrored by darkness, pale and odd,
startled by time. While I slept,
night in its thick winter jacket
bridled the doe with a twist
of wet leaves and led her away,
then brought its black horse with harness
that creaked like a cricket, and turned
the water garden under. I woke,
and at the waiting window found
the curtains open to my open face;
beyond me, darkness. And I,
who only wished to keep looking out,
must now keep looking in.
