AUTUMN (1)

AUTUMN
(August 1 through October 31)

The heat of summer lifts and
a new breeze awakens slumbering senses...
while high in the sky, clouds roll by.

Autumn is falling
like sheets over the furniture
of summer’s retreat.
An unspoken foreboding of rusty hinges
announces an inevitable return to a bristling city.

Where blankets grace the foot of each bed,
windows are thrown wide to capture cool air,
children laugh and play safely in the streets.

Temperatures drop,
frost descends, and leaves
blushing varied shades of red
float to the ground below...

Stop --- be still, listen:
the tolling bell of winter 
echoes in the shadows.