<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">Summer’s End</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">At 4:38 a.m. a mockingbird wakes to begin her concert. She prefers the topmost branches of the sycamore tree next door where she’s taken up residence. Throughout the day she entertains with a rapid succession of trills and chirps. </div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">Meanwhile, in the fig tree</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">a blue jay wipes its beak</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">against a branch</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">From April to October the “national pastime” follows the long arc of the growing season. The highs and lows, wins and losses. Now, baseball is reaching its climax with the World Series and it too will soon go dormant.</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">Game-ending error</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">shortstop stares into his glove</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">-- the crowd … stunned silent</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">This afternoon entire trees are on fire. The liquidambars in the neighborhood proclaim the season with a spectacle of trees aglow in yellow, russet, and crimson.</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">Falling maple leaf</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">catches the sun’s failing light</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">for the last time</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; ">It’s time once again for the autumnal ritual of cleaning the gutters—another reminder that the road ahead is shorter than the one I’ve already traveled.</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica"> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- andrew zarrillo</div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Helvetica; color: #150692"> </p></body></html>