Enga mellom fjella: where from across the meadow, poems sing from mountains and molehills. |
Autumn Leaves Edith Piaf (1951) Association: grade school and relationships I grew up hearing and learning French. I sang children's songs like "Sur le pont d'Avignon" in French; we all did. I took French until I graduated from high school. And Autumn meant school days and October meant falling leaves. Even now, a certain bittersweetness pervades many of my writings. Leave-taking is oft bittersweet. I love Édith Piaf's (The Little Sparrow) version because of the way her voice quavers (just like leaves) in both English and French. red maples flutter at gold elms, then take their leave to cover lawns, parched and withered, waiting for snow (24 syllables: 8/8/8) An autumn blog entry I wrote in 2006: "Autumn Leaves. A limerick." Autumn cottonwood She hugs the tree that forever leans towards the dawn: deep ridged, lichen crusted, grey and gold. It holds fast to the ground; it's proud crown quivers. And we both know: it will still stand there when she's gone. [163.408a] And this from earlier: "A little story of Autumn. Than Bauk?" October leaves This is the time the Great Painter looks at His palette and paints the hills of Western New York. It starts in the uplands of Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties and the Northern tier of Pennsylvania. Yellows and reds creep north and south and finish along the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario sometime in November. I've even seen a pink rose bloom on December 1st, my friend Kevin's birthday. First, the locust loses its gold raiment. The maples turn yellow, orange or scarlet. Golden brown vases of elms line the boulevards and avenues of old victorian houses. The oaks wear red-brown and hold on to their tatters, while chrysanthemums gather leaf litter and huddle. Each autumn the same dice are thrown. Which will come first: the frost or the snow. Both come by Thanksgiving, rarely October. The Snow Queen delivers a flurry that delights every child and puts fear in the hearts of car-drivers (few remember how to drive after the piña coladas of summer). The trees wear their new cloaks of white; each twig glistens with icicles. (Jack Frost takes the credit.) The old leaves glint in the gutter. This is the usual order of things. But Jack, the Queen and the Painter went on vacation. Westwind took over. And boy did he blow! Had quite a big party. I heard on the newscasts. Did you? By the time he was done, the leaves and the branches, the ice and the snow lay all mixed with down poles and dead wires. And this is no story; on Friday it really transpired! In response to Joy I wrote: "Windmills of the mind... [136]" It's for myself I weep for Kevin When I knew that it was over was I suddenly aware that the autumn leaves were fading like the color of your hair? Did I realize that nightmares would replace my fondest dreams? Was it all just some illusion in the shadow of moonbeams? And now that I've awakened after years of restless sleep, in the quiet of the morning is it for myself I weep? And does it really matter you were once my closest friend, that once you pledged your love to me? For that shall never end! Though memories have faded and now darkness snuffs the light, in the heart of who I've since become you shine there young and bright © Kåre Enga (7.juli.2019) [176.136] Lyrics I embellished in a blog entry long ago:
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