Autumn in the Air

How quickly the change comes —
A few cool nights
And suddenly the deer
can’t get enough to eat;
they come out earlier and
linger later, hurrying to
put on fat against the winter.
The night sounds, too, go on through
these overcast days, insects
frantic for mates, for offspring.
Me, I consume peaches voraciously
peach dumplings, peach pie
fists full of peaches, not ready
to give them up, not ready yet
to embrace apples. Reluctant
like the trees whose chlorophyll
begins its slow bleeding toward
the roots, already a shade paler
but green still, still thirsting for
the sun. I know that thirst,
I know that draining feeling,
that anxious urge to take in more,
just a little more
against the chill
and the quickening days,
reluctant to let go of a
lifelong season of dreams and desires
and face the inevitably waning light.

12 September 2006