The mood of the sky changes with the first chilly nights. Whether the sun reheats the day or a grey ceiling looms, the unsettled breezes can swirl on a whim, and the march of clouds can resume their race to catch retiring summer.
Such a strange contest--the glowing, moist air refusing to surrender to the black shiver of winter nights. For now, the spice of crackling leaves overwhelms the memory of frozen gusts. A relief, or a portent? The reign of day, or night? Autumn is neither. And both.
We sit along a stream and watch the colorful boats wash by. Red maple. White oak. Yellow birch. We fold ourselves into the slowing Earth, and if we nod in the drowsiness, we float on the crisp sound of water and the comfort of reassuring dreams.
8 comments:
So you like fall, eh?
I'm a summer person (hence moving to GA), but this makes me think that perhaps it won't be so bad this year. Of course, down here we get the colors for about a day. I miss that....
Lovely images.
Kara, so it was kind of obvious I like fall, huh? Dang. I've got to be more guarded. :)
Forgottenmachine, thanks for the visit! I enjoyed your recent posts and will take some time to go back through your archives.
I have a friend who quit smoking. He said the trick was to think of himself as a non-smoker. Think of yourself as a writer, Jason, and you will be just that. You seem to be well on your way.
Thank you, Agent 007, for your words of encouragement. Your blog is an invaluable resource for writers!
"The reign of day, or night? Autumn is neither. And both."
I love that. My cousin (bless her) said "That doesn't make any sense," but it makes perfect sense to me. Frankly, it's one of the most profound things I've read in a long time. Guess that means I like autumn too, huh? *LOL*
Thank you, Beanie. [For your cousin--autumn is a duality for me, made of both light and dark (the "both"), but the sum of the two is greater than its parts. The pairing creates a new, unique, third thing, so it's also "neither," just like a marriage is more than the two individuals who created it].
My main regret about living in New Mexico is that the seasons don't really change. It cools off some come autumn (120 down to 70-something is definitely a noticeable difference) but there are still hot days. We have coldish winters but when it snows, it's almost always gone by the next morning or even that afternoon. I think all that blending into one is tedious, not to mention it leads to less of an appreciation of the actual passage of time. My goal is to move somewhere where football games on Friday nights and a few stray yellow leaves aren't the only indications that autumn has arrived.
Beanie, I would certainly miss autumn if I moved to the south.
Maybe someday you'll join us up in these latitudes. If you get the urge, just follow Polaris.
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