On the Eve of Autumn - Fran Claggett-Holland

[Larry Robinson]

On the Eve of Autumn
 
Emily described for us
those many moons ago
a certain slant of light.
On the equinox of summer
we glimpse its shadow.
 
We may talk of returning 
to whatever was normal,
as if perpetual summer were 
attainable, even as we know
those heady moments are memory  
 
We have always known
the words, but not the melody
of the emerging dusk of life,
this singular beauty that marks
the eve of autumn,
 
Now we begin to savor
the lengthening infringement
the hint of winter, 
this shadowing under
a fragmentary sun.

	- Fran Claggett-Holland