The Constancy of Autumn

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Monday Morning Musings:

The Constancy of Autumn

“Where are the songs of spring? Ay, Where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;”
–from John Keats, “To Autumn”

Sunrise
Sunrise, Delaware River, September

Now the dragons come, sending their fiery breath
Into the cerulean sky, last gasps,
a vibrant show before their long, winter sleep.

Now squirrels skip and scurry
to find and bury their treasure,
eagles soar from shore to shore,

white-feathered heads glowing above the river blue,
where herons and egrets in shallow water wade
still in shadow, then with broad wings wide, glide

to other shoals. While blue jays gather
in raucous meetings throughout the day—
yelling at hawks, asking summer to stay—but

Blue Jay with shade of green

Apples and Honey, both local and delicious

now the apples come—red or golden-green,
the colors of both fall and spring, tart and sweet
as life, well-balanced, though seldom neat.

Now t-shirts are covered by sweaters,
above, azure turns grey, but bright a spray of yellow
in bee-swallowed goldenrod, and violet aster.

Golden rod and aster at dawn.

Now we are in transition, in-between,
summer has ended, winter not yet come
but we remember what has been

the roses of summer and the fruit,
their essence captured in honey and wine–
with time,

the memories and promises,
like late spring’s bird-dawn chatter—
everything connected, everything matters,

the constant of love’s endurance
glowing brilliant as the light
of ancient long-dead stars, so bright,
still guiding us from afar.

Where the light comes through—early morning, Delaware River.

We celebrated the first night of Rosh Hashanah last night. It makes so much more sense to celebrate the new year in early autumn as summer fades into fall than tacked on to the end of winter holidays on the first of January. Of course, no one has asked me. It was wonderful to celebrate with family, and while we missed not having everyone there, the smaller group meant we could all sit at one table and converse together. We toasted the memory of my aunt Sima, whose recipe for challah cannot be surpassed. It’s the one I always use.

Some photos from last night

49 thoughts on “The Constancy of Autumn”

  13. What a wonderful poem with beautiful photos. Glad you were able to celebrate with family (looks delicious).
    I don’t see any “Merril’s movie stuff…”
    Have you watched “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”? I am 5 episodes in and loving her…

  14. Again such a perfect complement of photos and poem! And your dinner photos … definitely drool-worthy 😉 But I really like seeing these scenes of family. So much warmth and love and, yes, good food, but it’s the warmth and love that I enjoy the most.

    I’m going to have to check some of the shows you and Dale were talking (writing) about. We just started season 2 of Picard, and I have to say it’s tough going for me. Just when I think I know what’s going on, I realize I don’t know and then, just to make things worse, Q shows up. I don’t like Q. I never have. For some reason, I have a visceral dislike for the character. So … we’re at a loss because we finished the current season of Only Murders in the Building (Hulu). Still watching Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and The Patient (Hulu) when an episode drops but … definitely need more variety 😉

    • Thank you so much, Marie. It was really wonderful to see at least some family members.

      I didn’t know you disliked Q so much, or I would not have recommended Picard. Oops! We don’t have Hulu, but my kids liked Only Murders, and daughter and her husband are watching The Patient.
      Did you watch Night Sky?

      • Oh, no, it’s fine that you recommended Picard. We’re still watching it and, of course, since they are having to go back in time to 2024, how can I not watch it … lol! We saw the first episode of Night Sky but haven’t watched it since. I blame my husband. He’s very particular … that’s all I’ll say 😉 I rarely have a chance to watch TV by myself since we’re both retired.

      • Neither of us watches sports … and my family thinks Greg is a bit odd for that reason 😉 He could hold his own in talking about sports but there are so many other things we’d rather do than watch sports like … nothing, doing nothing at all. 😉

      • My husband is not a sports fanatic, but he watches some–without me. He was happy to have our older child watch the Phillies play the other night. I went up to bed. 🙂

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