Autumn’s Folly

She paints the landscape red and gold,
cossets fruit, more than we can hold,

silvers webs and tinkers with the light
only to plunge us into wintry night.

Her leafy folly flutters and decays,
the fruits of her labour last but days,

winter haunts her with ghostly mist
and bids her goodbye with an icy kiss.

Kim M. Russell, 27th October 2020

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Mussenden Folly, also linked to Poets and Storytellers United Writers’ Pantry

Lisa is our host this Tuesday with a prompt based on follies, and not just the kind rich people build, like the Mussenden Folly.

Lisa has given us a definition of an architectural folly and a human behavioural one, as well as sharing images and poems on the theme.  

Our challenge is to write poems with the word ‘folly’ in them: about a decorative structure not intended to have a function; the Ziegfield Follies; an act of folly;  the folly of youth and the fear of folly in older years. 

64 thoughts on “Autumn’s Folly”

  1. Ooh, I love the rhyme scheme here, Kim! This is very well-written and dark. I was not expecting these lines:

    “winter haunts her with ghostly mist
    and bids her goodbye with an icy kiss.”

    A kiss of death, so it seems. How dark and I loved the inclusion of winter themes with death and grief. Very beautifully penned; it is solemn and sad.

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    1. Thank you, Francis. Autumn is a sad season. I love the colours and the mists, especially here in Norfolk. But today was grim, all rain and grey skies. My visit to the chiropodist was the high point!

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  7. This is absolutely exquisite in its use of language and imagery, Kim.💝 Autumn is a time for introspection as the season grows with its auburn and dark blue mixed together to inculcate wisdom and humility in a person 🙂 Especially love; “Her leafy folly flutters and decays, the fruits of her labour last but days.” Yes!💝

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  16. Hi Kim. The intense beauty of autumn may only last but a short while, but how beautiful it is! I think neither it’s occurring or our enjoying it can never be folly. Wonderful poem. I truly enjoyed this Kim!

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  25. Fleeting season and beautifully painted in words. Like the squirrel gather all your stores and sit quietly during the bleak months with the warmth of your words. Stay safe and give thanks that you have a life of the mind…if most were like this you would not be going into another lock down. Chin up !

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    1. Thank you, Rall! The thought of another lockdown, especially over winter, is more than daunting. I am so thankful for our poets’ community. I don’t know what I’d do without it. Stay safe and well!

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